


A willing Heart.

by Gothicsouthpaw30



Category: The Hobbit, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit-Non Canon
Genre: Bilbo makes a discovery, Bofur has a secret, F/M, Falling In Love, Gen, Gender Roles, Laws, Love Story, Multi, Nori is possessive, Other, Pregnancy, Rape, Secrets, The start of Thorin's madness, altar egoes, dangerous secrets, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:44:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 24
Words: 27,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2065137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothicsouthpaw30/pseuds/Gothicsouthpaw30
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bofur wakes to make a discovery...and so does Bilbo!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A late Night Bath

Bofur groaned and sat up slowly; He took a moment to look around in the vast darkness, making sure all the others were still asleep, before stealthily slipping his hand down the front of his trousers.

“Damn,” He whispered as he pulled his hand out and examined his fingers, “Not now!”

Stilling for a moment, when he heard cousin Bifur emit a low growl in his sleep, Bofur untangled himself and quietly rose to his feet when silence came over the lot of them once more.

He had to get outside, to the nearby creek he’d spied as he and the other’s had dashed for their lives into the amazingly huge home of their skin changing host. 

The man-or beast-had come in about an hour or so ago and, to Bofur’s immense surprise, wasted no time in falling asleep upon his own pile of hay not far from where their own leader had laid down for a good nights rest.

‘At least I’ll just ‘ave to worry about wargs,” Bofur bitterly thought to himself, just as he felt a painful ache start in his abdomen.

“I knew I should’ve brought the herbs!” Bofur hissed through gritted teeth, waiting until the contraction ceased, before exhaling slowly.

With his pain subsided for the moment, wanting to waste no more time and knowing he had to wash, the dwarf slowly made his venture out side.  
****************************************************************************************************************************  
Though he knew the dangers, knew the Orc’s and their terrible hounds still roamed the area, Bofur nonetheless had a more important goal in mind that temporarily quelled his fears of a violent death.

Looking over His shoulder one more time, just as he began to slip through the gate, Bofur inhaled deeply as another twinge of pain coursed through him and he hurried off into the darkness.

Reaching the creek bed, he uttered a small sigh of relief and began to undress.

He hadn’t been able to bathe the way he’d wanted to, back in Rivendell, telling the other’s He wasn’t going to lower him self by bathing elven waters.

At that time he’d only washed his face, hands, hair, and feet, ignoring the taunts of his friends, and then headed off to rest for the remainder of the night.

When he removed his trousers, leaning against a tree for support, he quickly searched for any dampness with his fingertips.

“Good,” He sighed as he folded them and set them off to the side, but his long johns were not in good condition at all.

“Damn it all!” Bofur moaned softly after he’d stripped them off next and examined them. 

With his dwarven eyes he could easily spot the stain in the moonlight.

“Well…I might be able to wash most of it out,” Bofur told him self, letting the long johns fall into a independent pile in front of him. He then began to remove the taut bandages that bound his chest.

Though this was not the best thing to be happening to him at the present moment, Bofur had to admit, he was relieved to finally be able unbind his body and truly take in a deep and relaxing breath.

This had been the longest time he’d ever kept his chest wrapped and, honestly, there had been times on their journey he’d actually thought about taking them off and letting his dangerous secret out.

Now completely unclothed, looking about one more time, Bofur waded into the cool water.

The coldness was a relief to him, it almost dulled the involuntary pain he was in, and he leaned back against the soggy bank and slowly allowed himself to relax.

He’d have to rip strips off of his bedroll again, he didn’t have a choice, and that meant feeling the cold again more deeply than he wished too.

‘It’ll be alright,’ Bofur told him self as he opened his eyes and studied the stars that glittered above him, ‘After we get it all sorted out…I’ll finally be able to~”

“Eh, B-Bofur? Don’t you think it’s a bit late to be bathing?”

Bofur yelped and, without thinking, rose to his full height out of the creek and spun around to face the halfling.

“Shit!” He spat, “Ye really don’t make any noise at all do ye?”

Bilbo Baggins’ mouth dropped open and, after the two stared at each other in the pale moonlight for long enough, the hobbit at last gasped:

“Bofur…you’re female!”

Bofur, realizing for the first time SHE was standing completely nude, instantly sank back down in shallow waters as tears stung at her eyes.

“Ye mustn’t…Ye can’t say anythin’!” She exclaimed, “Please…I could loose me head if Thorin finds out!”

“Wha…” Bilbo started to say, making sure to keep his eyes pinned to his hairy feet, “That is…I-I thought female dwarves were-uh-I thought they were kept at home!”

“Do ye really want a lesson in dwarven culture now?” Bofur demanded in a shrill whisper, “Bilbo…promise you won’t speak o’ this to anyone!”

Bilbo, to Bofur’s astonishment, seemed lost in thought before he dared to admit: “I had a feeling there was something different about you!”

“Bil-bo!” Bofur whined, “This is important! Swear to me that ye won’t say nothin’ to no one! PLEASE!”

Bilbo, still refusing to look at the humiliated dwarf, bent and picked Bofur’s long yellow shirt and cautiously approached the the edge of the creek.

“You’ve my word,” Bilbo promised as he held out the shirt, “I just…why did you come out here so late at night?”

Taking the shirt in one hand, holding it over her head, Bofur waited until Bilbo realized what the delay was and turned around to give the dwarf some privacy.

“I’m…having me time,” Bofur explained as She climbed out of the creek and grabbed up her long johns, “Cold water helps with the discomfort and…my breeches got stained.

Bilbo sucked in his breath after a moment of thought and, checking to see that it was safe, turned to face the shivering dwarf again.

“Oh,” He mused, “You mean…that kind of time?”

Sitting on the dry grass, after submerging her ruined under garment in the creek, Bofur replied with her back turned: “Aye…don’t yer like get it?”

“Well I’m a boy!” Bilbo declared and was cut off by Bofur’s familiar chuckle.

“I know,” Bofur offered as she began to try and scrub the stain away from the crotch of her wet clothing, “I was meaning YER females.”

“Oh, oh yes!” Bilbo laughed nervously as he came to sit beside the dwarf, “Once every month actually.”

“Every month?” Bofur gaped softly as she continued to keep her eyes on the stubborn stain, “Bless me…we dwarves only bleed every three months!”

“Oh…is that why you're…numbers are so low?” Bilbo asked, and Bofur was so secretly grateful to the hobbit for doing his best to ease the situation that she offered up a soft smile when she looked at him.

“Tha’,” She admitted, “and we give our entire lives to our work more often ‘n not.”

“So…what’s your reasoning?”

Bofur began to wring the water from her long john’s, unsure of just how much she could trust Bilbo, and she only offered:

“I’d rather save that story fer another time.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo pushes, though politely and sweetly, to know more about Bofur.

Beorn, thankfully, had decided to spare the dwarves a grisly fate.

In the early morning hours He’d woken and gathered them around his massive table and served them milk and honey cakes and, Bofur noted, that it did little to deter the hobbits lingering gaze upon her.

After Beorn had agreed to give what supplies he could to help them on their journey, after Thorin had handed out responsibilities, Bofur jumped at the chance to ready the borrowed ponies for she was becoming weary of Bilbo’s stare.

When all was said and done, wanting a moment to her self, Bofur retired to Beorn’s massive front porch to observe the early after noon sun peacefully and partake of some well desired pipe weed.

However, and she swallowed, Bilbo soon joined her on the porch. 

But, what did puzzle her, was the steaming cup of tea Bilbo offered to her when he’d come to stand beside her.

“Chamomile,” Bilbo explained when Bofur at last took it, “My mother-eh-Sh-she drank it when she was…timed out.”

Bofur guffawed and bowed her head before taking the cup from the confused looking hobbit.

“Thank ye kindly,” Bofur offered with a grin after taking a sip, “Ye didn’t have to bother.”

“I’d nothing else to do,” Bilbo explained, “All Gandalf and Thorin are doing is speaking to Beorn while the rest of them are off…”

Bilbo looked around offering a small shrug and Bofur smirked before taking another sip of tea.

“So, with all the lads out and about, ye came out here with tea in the hopes I’d…entertain ye, then?”

Bilbo averted his gaze, studying the large and locked gate before them, and after a moment mumbled:

“I won’t lie…I’m rather curious ever since last night.”

Bofur chuckled softly and offered a shrug of her own.

“Been this way since we left Dunland,” She explained, “When Daddy died and cousin Bifur came back…that way…we needed money for medicine an’ all.

So when it was agreed a move to Ered Luin was best fer the family I started wearing Daddy’s old clothes for the journey and…well, many took me fer a boy.

When we got to Ered Luin and moved into Thorin’s halls jobs were scarce fer women…I found that there was good money to be found in mining in no time though when I was picked out to try me hand mining.”

“No one ever suspected?” Bilbo asked gently, “Not once?”

Bofur shrugged and sipped some more tea as She began to recall vivid memories.

“If they did they said nothin’ about it to me or anyone else,” She explained, “Which would mean I’m fortunate…doin’ what I do Bilbo…it’s a crime.”

Bilbo gnawed his bottom lip, studied Bofur once more, and then asked softly:

“Is that why you said you could loose your head if anyone found out?”

“Aye,” Bofur sighed as she tugged at her crooked braid; “It’s considered a blight on our people.”

“But I thought you said even females could chose a life of single hood,” Bilbo argued gently, “ just like any male so why would your people have a problem with~”

“But I’m doin’ the work of males, in secret, keep that in mind” Bofur clarified, "There’s that and, I’m sure you’ll understand, we females can be quite a distraction for males. Imagine it! Me, in all my female glory, down in the mines with so many lonely and unwed males. No tellin’ would could happen.”

“I see,” Bilbo admitted with a sigh, “Does anyone know? Besides me I mean?”

Bofur, taking a seat on the porch steps, looked up at Bilbo and nodded with a twinkle in her eyes.

“So…so at least Bombur and Bifur know?”

Bofur snorted and nodded: “O’course!” She laughed as Bilbo came and sat next to her.

“It’s always best to have at least one or two confidantes and they’re my kin after all! Uh…well, to be honest, Nori knows but only because He and I are…we were…once friendly.”

Bilbo blinked and thought over this revelation for a moment before remarking: “So…you’ve had lovers?”

“Just one,” Bofur admitted as she emptied her cup, “I’ve gotta be careful an’ all. Have I satiated ye enough fer one day, Master Hobbit?”

Bilbo offered a shy smile and a nod before looking away from the pleasant dwarf to finish his cup of tea.

“Yer an odd one,” Bofur remarked as she rose to her feet, ignoring Bilbo’s puzzled glance.

“Most would think me…a little bit lost fer doin’ what I’m doin’.”

“Oh,” Bilbo mused softly, “I can understand your need to care for your loved ones…but, may I ask just one more thing?”

She was becoming annoyed, not so much at Bilbo, but at the fact that she was experiencing menstrual pain again.

With this in mind, and wanting to be alone now more than ever, Bofur nodded briskly and offered a smirk as she waited for Bilbo to fulfill his curiosity.

“Is your name really Bofur?”

She grinned then and offered a chuckle before answering:

“Aye, Daddy wanted a boy ye see, and he was so set on the name that it stuck. I imagine that also helps with…what I’m doin’ and all! I’ll see ye at lunch then, Bilbo!”


	3. Chapter 3: No worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori and Bofur argue just before entering Mirkwood.

“You going soft?”

“Piss off, Nori! Go and get yer pack stuffed! We gotta go!”

Nori snorted and lightly kicked Bofur’s own pack, causing the dwarf to look up at him from where she kneeled.

“I heard you and Bilbo,” Nori confessed, “Just before lunch I heard you tell him everything! Don’t you think that was…stupid of you?”

Bofur rolled her eyes, closed the flap of her pack, and as she rose replied: “Don’t ye think it’s rude of you to eavesdrop?” 

“Bo,” Nori sighed, gripping one of the other dwarf’s shoulders, “I’d hate to see something terrible happen to you!”

Slapping his hand away with her free hand, Bofur observed the red haired dwarf with a smirk, and then asked in snotty tone: “You goin’ soft?”

“For you?” Nori said as Bofur headed out side, “Always!”

She’d already started to go but, Bofur stalled her steps then, and cast Nori a disbelieving expression as she pointed out: “I’m sure…tha’s why ye left me when they goin’ got tough, aye?”

Nori shrugged, his attitude obviously better, and he replied with a flourish of his hand:

“You know you’ve missed me!”

“I haven’t!” Bofur confessed as she bounded out of the house and out of Nori’s sight.

Bilbo had already mounted a pony, sharing it with Dori, and when He looked over at Bofur he offered the faintest of smiles.

“You’ll have to ride with Oin, brother!” Bombur exclaimed from his own ride, “Bifur insists on riding with me!”

Bofur nodded, noticed how Bilbo seemed quite entertained at hearing Bombur use the word ‘brother,’ and hurried over to where Oin waited.  
************************************************************************************************************************  
She was cramping again, Oin had complained that She was holding him to tightly with each contraction, and Bofur now noticed Bilbo was casting worried glances her way.

‘It’s fine,’ She’d mouthed, ‘Stop lookin’!”

Bilbo had only shrugged and turned back around, giving Bofur some peace, but She had to admit, she was flattered by the hobbit’s constant and well meant surveillance. 

Still it was worrisome.

Not only that, to her annoyance, Nori was now glaring at her every once in a while and in a way that seemed to wordlessly ask her: See what you did?

‘Just lemme off this beast,’ Bofur pleaded, ‘Lemme off this beast and then I’ll deal with the rest!”

Surely, and Bofur moaned as the cramp worsened, even Thorin would begin to notice how suddenly others were becoming quite interested in the seemingly simple toy maker and that, simply, would not do.

“Ow! What’re doin’ laddie?” Oin demanded, “Yer gonna crack me ribs!”

“Oh…sorry,” Bofur offered as she loosened her grip, “Just not feelin’ to secure is all.”

Thankfully when they’d reached the edge of the forest, not a moment to soon, Thorin called for them to dismount and unsaddle the ponies.

With a happy sigh Bofur did just that and waited until Oin got off to begin unbuckling the heavy saddle from their ride.

“Everything alright?”

Bofur, though smiling, didn’t turn to look at Bilbo as She was still in the midst of removing the saddle.

“Yer a proper gent to keep such watch o’er me Bilbo,” Bofur offered with a grunt when she’d completed the task, “But honestly ye must be careful because~”

“Because we take care of our own!”

Both Bofur and Bilbo looked over just as Nori came and shoved himself between the startled dwarf and hobbit.

“Be careful not to over step your self, halfling,” Nori warned, “We take offense easily!”

Before Bilbo could respond, before Bofur could say anything in the hobbit’s defense, He was called to Thorin’s side and went so quietly.

But not before casting another concerned glance at Bofur who, understandably, was glaring hard at Nori.

“What are ye doin’?” She demanded softly but with a scowl, “He’s just being polite!”

“You shouldn’t have told him!” Nori spat softly, “He keeps looking at you!”

“Oh, aye!” Bofur spat, “Because he knows I’m not…that I’m not feeling too well and He’s concerned! Nothin’ more!”

“He’s more than concerned!” Nori argued, causing some of their comrades to gaze curiously in their direction, “I know what that look-his look-means!”

“Keep yer feckin’ voice down!” Bofur warned stiffly, “Thorin’s lookin’!”

After the King stopped studying them from afar, Bofur sighed and lowered her voice, saying as gently as she could:

“He’s me friend…nothin’ else… and really, Nori, ye gotta stop with yer jealousies! We’ve been done and through fer a very long while!”

Though the pain was evident in her old lover’s eyes, Nori nonetheless cleared his throat and nodded.

“Just think you shouldn’t have told him is all,” He stipulated again, “He could ruin everything for you!”

“So could you,” Bofur pointed out with a sweet smile, “If ye don’t learn to control yer self…and thinkin’ that we’re still an item. Besides…I ‘ave no interest in the hobbit where those feelings are concerned. Off with ye now!”

Nori huffed, started to go, and then he hesitated and cast a gentle glance over his shoulder at Bofur whom eyed him patiently.

“I’m doing this for you,” Nori confessed, “If you give me another chance Bo…I know I can make you happy!”

“Nori, my dear friend,” Bofur sighed with her hands on her hips, “I can’t…I will never be able to. I’ve gone too far…like this. It’d be too great a risk fer both of us or any one else that might come lookin’ to get to me heart!”


	4. Chapter Four:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This starts off in the dungeons of Mirkwood and ends on the river bank just outside Esgaroth.
> 
> A filler chapter depicting the growing bond between Bofur and Bilbo...and Nori's growing resentment.

She woke at the sound of her name and it took her only a second to realize whom it was trying to rouse her.

“Bilbo!” She whispered happily, jumping up and going to the front of her cell, “I can’t believe…I’m glad to see ye!”

Bilbo looked haggard yet he smiled and let Bofur clutch his hand through the bars for a moment or so before whispering: “They’re changing the guard and that’s how I got to you! Here’s some bread. Don’t worry too much longer…I think I’ve found a way out!”

“Thank Mahal!” Bofur sighed softly, taking the bread in one hand, “We’ve been stuck in here fer at least a week now! And tha’ pointy eared fool has told us all he won’t release us until we talk or until Thorin’s agrees to his terms!”

Bilbo smiled at her then and, in that moment, Bofur realized how the very sight of the hobbit caused her entire mood to change.

“I know how long you’ve been here,” Bilbo confessed as Bofur wrapped the fingers of one hand around a cold steel bar, “I’ve been here the entire time! Ever since you were brought in!”

Bofur scoffed in disbelief and asked: “How ‘ave ye not been spotted yet?”

Bilbo hesitated, his hand wrapping around Bofur’s, and he only offered a shrug and squeezed the dwarf’s fingers gently.

“Does it matter?” He asked, “All that is important is getting you-all of you-out of here!”

The way the hobbit looked at her, seeing the tenderness in his eyes, caused Bofur to gasp lightly and take a few steps back from bars that held her in her cramped cell.

“Thank Ye,” She replied after taking a bite of bread, “Now be off…get to the others and keep yer self safe!”  
*************************************************************************************************************************** 

The ride had been a dizzying one, her body ached, and she felt she would vomit if left floating down the freezing river for very much longer.

Thankfully, however, she found the lid of her barrel pulled open not long after she’d felt it thump against blessed, rocky shores.

“Here,” Bilbo offered, extending his dripping wet hand.

“Thank you,” Bofur said as She allowed the hobbit to help her from the barrel, “Did everyone else make it?”

Bilbo, soaked from head to toe, nodded and inclined his head to where the others had begun to clamber out of their own barrels and onto the shore.

“All here,” Bilbo observed, “Dizzy and wet but…all safe!”

It was then that the two realized they still held each other’s hand and, after a moment of humiliating realization passed between them, they released one another and broke into nervous smiles.

“Let’s see to the others,” Bofur offered and Bilbo nodded in agreement, “Thorin’s barking out orders any ways!”  
************************************************************************************************************************  
“Um…Bofur, don’t you know you’re bleeding?”

Bofur, having checked on her brother and cousin, had set her self to binding Kili’s injury since Oin was still too dizzy to perform his usual duties as the company's healer.

But upon hearing the young dwarf’s question, she stiffened, and slowly looked up at the wounded prince.

“Come again?” She asked, and Kili pointed, causing his elder brother’s eyes to go as wide as Bofur's own when she saw the deep red stain seeping through her dirty and graying long johns.

“Oh,” Bofur gasped, dropping Kili’s leg. “I…musta got hit by an arrow! Probably just a scratch though, lad.”

“Doesn’t look like a scratch,” Kili seethed as he gripped his aching leg, “and you dropped my fucking leg! You hurt me!”

“You were already hurt lad!” Bofur argued just before locking eyes with Fili and ordering that the older brother to take over the task she’d been doing.  
***************************************************************************************************************************  
After dashing behind some rocks and making sure that no one had followed, Bofur unbuttoned her graying undergarment, and finally beheld the bandages that flattened her breasts.

With a moan of devastation, Bofur knew she would need treatment, and she couldn't help but utter a terrified whimper. 

Even without removing them, seeing how saturated they were with blood, Bofur knew she would need stiches to close the deep gash beneath the cloth that had, for so long, bound her secret for years.

She could see it now, having no other choice but to confess to her deception, she’d be knocked to her knees and in one swift blow, her life would be ended before she’d ever truly had a chance to live it as the person she really was and wanted to be!

“Bofur?”

The dwarf yelped and jumped, bringing her wide eyes to the two that had found her hunched behind the rocks, and she allowed herself a brief moment of relief.

“Here,” Nori sighed, “Let’s have a look!”

Bofur, though quite surprised that Nori knew she was hurt, lifted her arm and allowed the dwarf to examine the gash, but all the while her eyes stayed fixed upon the hobbit behind her old lover.

“Saw you,” the hobbit explained softly, “So I grabbed Nori and…”

Bilbo shrugged and offered a shy smile that Bofur returned with a laugh and grin of her own.

“It’s fine but, Bilbo, yer lookin’ a bit ill yer self!”

Which the hobbit was, even he acknowledged this with a nod, and he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“A cold I imagine,” Bilbo admitted with a cough, “Nothing as serious as your injury though. Let’s get you fixed up.”

“I can do that,” Nori sighed, casting Bilbo an annoyed glance, “Go and distract the others for now!”

Bilbo hesitated, for a moment he looked angry, but after looking at Bofur and receiving a supportive nod and faint smile, the hobbit obeyed and hurried off.

“Stop treatin’ him so poorly,” Bofur warned as Nori ordered her to remove her bandages, “He's only trying to help!”

“I bet!” Nori quipped as he revealed a needle and some thread, “Now sit down and try not to squirm!”


	5. Chapter Five: A Close Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically a chapter in which Bofur has a close call with Thorin.
> 
> Also, Bofur and Nori are beginning to realize things are changing.

By the time the Master of Lake town had welcomed them and promised them room and board for their stay, Bofur wasted no time in helping Bilbo get to their gifted lodgings for the night as quickly as she could.

“I’m fine,” He’d started to say, but broke into a fit of coughs, and with a groan slumped against Bofur’s shoulder.

“Sure ye are!” Bofur sighed, “and dragon’s really aren’t all that greedy either!”

It had taken time for some of the volunteers to bring them their rickety cots but, when they had, Bofur was certain to make sure that Bilbo got the first cot available as soon as the mortals had taken their leave and left the dwarves to drink and celebrate privately.

“Here ye go, a nice and soft bed!”

With a groan, the hobbit flopped onto the cot, and sighed pleasantly when Bofur covered him with a heavy blanket.

“This isn’t good timing,” Bilbo coughed, “Not good timing at all!”

“’s fine, love,” Bofur assured the hobbit, then lightly gasped when she’d realized the term she’d just used on the sickly hobbit.

“Uh…we’ve plenty of time to get to the mountain and even Thorin thinks it’s best you rest and get better before we take off…we’re a ways off from the last light of Durin’s Day any how.”

Bilbo sniffled again, nuzzled his face into his fluffy pillow and sighed just before he asked:

“How is your injury?”

Tucking the blanket around the little fellow more securely, a flattered smile dancing on her lips, Bofur chuckled then and answered softly:

“Better, sore, but better and without any sign of infection. Ye go on and sleep, Bilbo, maybe later you can eat something."

“Bofur?” Bilbo asked in a raspy voice, just as the dwarf had begun to take her leave.

“Aye?” Bofur asked, “What is it now?

“Oh…nothing,” Bilbo sighed as he curled into a ball, “Forget it.”

A smirk playing on her lips, Bofur excused Bilbo’s behavior as something to do with his current ill health, and departed without another word.  
**************************************************************************************************************************  
Like most of her male comrades she too had a fondness for drink and could hold her own in any tavern.

She had, in all honesty, often wondered if that was one of the reasons she had yet to be discovered; for she’d yet to meet another female, one that showed her sex publicly, that could drink as well as she!

“How fares Master Baggins?”

Bofur yelped and spun around, facing the King, and she would have toppled down the stairs had Thorin not bounded over in time and grabbed the front of her borrowed and over sized tunic.

“A bit jumpy, tonight, aren’t you?” Thorin asked as he observed the working class dwarf after steadying her, “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to startle you so, I only wished to know of the burglars condition.”

‘Bilbo,’ Bofur thought defensively, ‘His name is Bilbo!’

“Congested and feverish,” Bofur answered softly, stepping back from Thorin. “He’s sleeping now.”

“I find it rather peculiar that the two of you have bonded so,” Thorin confessed, causing Bofur’s heart to race and her palms to sweat.

“Then again you have been a rather…curious dwarf…Well, since I’ve known you that is. Now, however, I think I’ve figured why so peculiar!”  


“You…you figured it out?” Bofur asked, taking a small step back from the intimidating dwarf king, “Wha…h-how did ye?”

Thorin chuckled, uncharacteristically, and inclined his head toward the room where Bilbo lay asleep.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Thorin explained, “and…you are always asking about his whereabouts aren’t you? and when you’re not doing that…the two of you are always with one another!”

‘I’m dead,’ Bofur thought frantically, ‘He’ll kill me right here-snap me neck-and hide me away! Oh! I shoulda never signed that bloody contract! Damn ye Bifur and yer need fer revenge!”

“…doesn’t really bother me but the two of you can’t be distracting each from the task at hand,” Thorin was saying as Bofur came back from her thoughts and gulped loudly.

“I’ve known many like you through the years,” the dwarf king pointed, “Honestly I’m not disturbed by your type but I must press upon you the importance of keeping your own desires to the side for now.”

Bofur blinked, studied the patiently waiting dwarf thoughtfully, then her eyes widened.

“My type?” She asked, “Oh! Y-ye mean to say that you think Bilbo an’ I are…that way?”

Thorin’s brow furrowed and he asked gently: “Are the two of you not…that way?”

Bofur grinned and laughed, in pure relief rather than humor, and slapped Thorin’s arm playfully.

“No!” the toy maker laughed, and she couldn’t help but grin wider when Thorin’s cheeks flared, “Well…I mean…He is rather cute aint he?”

“Why ask me?” Thorin demanded, becoming his usual grumpy self, and then with an exasperated growl he left Bofur to her own thoughts and bounded down the stairs to where the others were.

Slumping against the wall, Bofur released a huge sigh of relief as her hand gripped her throat and she thought: ‘Looks like I’ll keep me neck another day!’

‘I wonder what Bilbo wanted, just before I left?’ Bofur wondered and then she looked back at the closed door of Bilbo’s room as she mulled the question over and over again. 

“He really is rather cute…even though he’s got less hair than a horse and is my height,” Bofur muttered to her self, and she chuckled nervously.

“Bofur,” a dwarf, Nori, called as he stood at bottom of the stairs, “Will not come and have a drink?”

“O’course!” Bofur replied as she bounded down the stairs, “Been waiting for pint of the good ol’ stuff fer days now!”

When she disappeared into the room where the others were, Nori cast a sneer up the stairs, and then after a moment he felt his heart drop.

‘It can’t be!’ He told him self as he followed after Bofur, ‘It just can’t be!”


	6. Chapter Six: A ring, A touch, and a walk in the snow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long Chapter....hope I didn't confuse any one.

“Nori, it’s very pretty but…where’d ye get it again?”

Nori smirked and continued to hold out his hand until Bofur sighed and took ring from his open palm.

“Don’t worry, I bought it,” Nori pointed out as Bofur examined the tear drop shaped, deep green stone that was set into a small band of silver.

“I got it because the stone reminded me of your eyes,” Nori confessed nervously as He shifted on his feet, “Thought you would like it.”

“Nori,” Bofur sighed softly as He slipped the expensive ring onto his smallest finger before examining it closely, “Oh, Nori, I do like it but as I’ve told ye…ye gotta stop buying me gifts!”

“It’s just a…it’s my way of showing how much I still value you. You know…if I don’t survive the dragon and all.”

“Oh, stop that!” Bofur scolded as he dropped his hand to his side, “Ye will be fine, I will be fine, we’ll all be alright! There’s nothin’ to fear!”

“There will be if Bilbo fails!” Nori pointed out in a stuffy tone, examining his tunic so he didn’t have to meet Bofur’s glare, “Screwed up plenty since he’s been around!”

To Nori’s heartache and humiliation, Bofur pulled the ring off of her pinky finger and held it out to the red haired dwarf, Waiting with a sneer on her tanned face.

“I knew it!” Bofur declared through gritted teeth, “Damn ye Nori! I left ye because Ye wouldn’t stay outta trouble and ye always had to run off to avoid Dwalin’s fists and let's not fer get that Ye always got me found out! I don’t want Ye in my life-in that way-not any more! Ye must realize that! And, please, quit being so childish where Bilbo is concerned!”

“Bofur,” Nori started with a stunned gasp, “I love you!”

The hard edges around the other dwarf’s eyes softened then, She’d licked her lips, and thought for a moment more before she waved her hand in Nori’s face impatiently and ordered: “Take it! I don’t want it!”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Nori asked in whining tone as he let the ring drop back into his open palm, “Don’t you have anything to say?”

“Nori,” Bofur sighed as she picked up her borrowed, blue tunic and started to leave the room, “I won’t ever give ye my heart because I…I just can’t! Stop torturing yer self and leave me be!”  
**************************************************************************************************************************** "Are you sure you’re alright,” Bilbo inquired as he came and sat next to Bofur at the dinner table, “You’ve been so quiet and, honestly, that’s not you at all!”

Bofur snorted, She was the talker of the group, and that fact was becoming harder to ignore considering she kept getting quite a few curious glances her way.

“Fer get about me,” Bofur offered after a sip of ale, “’ow are ye feelin’ Bilbo? Ye look to be completely well!”

The Hobbit, his color a healthy hue of peach again, smiled politely and nodded.

“Completely well!” Bilbo declared happily just as supper started to be served, “After four blessed days of bed rest and thanks to you of course!”

“Oh, now!” Bofur chuckled as she studied the liquid in her mug, “Oin was the one responsible for bringing ye back from the brink! I just sat with ye from time to time!”

“And made me laugh when I was utterly miserable,” Bilbo pointed out, his hand resting atop Bofur’s knee under the table suddenly, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

A warm sensation soared from where Bilbo’s hand rested and settled in Bofur’s pounding heart.

‘Mahal!’ Bofur thought as she gazed into Bilbo’s bright and, to her amazement, loving eyes.

‘He…likes me!’ Bofur realized, ‘Nori was right!’

Nori?

Her hazel eyes searched him out, spotted him down the table and seated on the other side, and the notorious hoodlum was glaring hard right back at her. His eyes accusing and enraged.

“I gotta go!” Bofur declared, shaking off Bilbo’s hand and ignoring the hobbits pained grimace, “It’s a bit stuffy in here!”  
**************************************************************************************************************************** 

To any mortal out and about at such a later hour, they would be freezing as they walked carefully in the heavy snowfall, but not Bofur. 

Dwarves didn’t feel the hot or cold as severely as many other races did, they were made of sterner stuff when it came to acts of nature, but at present Bofur felt she would break down in body wracking sobs.

It wasn’t such a bad thing that Bilbo had absently touched her knee, Bofur had actually enjoyed the feel of it, and that was what the problem was!

Her fingers touched her dingy tunic, even with her left breast bound, she could still feel her heart beating.

‘Beating for whom though?’ Bofur wondered just as her eyes filled with tears, ‘Oh…Bless me! This cannot be happenin’ now!’

She was quite literally on death’s doorstep, all she had to do was mess up once and it would all be over, after years of secrecy.

She could die by either dragon fire ten days from then, or by her king’s unmerciful sword.

She’d let her guard down only once, for Nori’s sake, because she’d become infatuated with his oh-well attitude and charming ways.

He’d nearly convinced her to throw off her male clothes, to marry him, and to leave Ered Luin for a life on the unknown road.

“You can be whoever you want to be,” Nori had declared so long ago, “You must come with me!”

That was before she realized that Nori had been using her to get close to the local jeweler, a close friend of her family’s; After wards, after the burglary, Nori begged and begged and did whatever he could to prove his love was true but it did no good.

With a sigh, snow blanketing her shoulders, Bofur wondered if she would ever truly forgive Nori.

It wasn’t so much what he’d done, it had been his daring ways that had attracted her in the first place, but she still recalled that frightening night after he'd fled and left a trail of evidence to her family's home.

Had Lord Balin not intervened all those years ago, his younger brother Dwalin would’ve drug the toy maker to the jail, and stripped her of her deceitful garb!

Had that had happened, it would’ve been her head upon the block, not Nori’s or any one else’s.

‘Dumbest thing I ever did,’ She admitted as she leaned upon a wooden railing of a small bridge that connected one side of Esgaroth to the other, ‘I know it! I can't have that in me life I know it! So... what’s wrong with me then?’

Bofur remembered how she had decided, after a night of shame and tears, that her life would be her family’s until the day she was put into the ground or burned upon a pyre. 

She’d look after them and make sure they were all healthy and happy, just like she’d promised her mother on her deathbed, and she would never risk her heart again.

They were the only ones she could ever truly trust.

Weren’t they?

“Bilbo,” Bofur sighed in a tight voice as fresh tears formed in her eyes, “I wish ye hadn’t come…”

Her memory suddenly recalled a moment with her late mother then, just as the love struck dwarf began to cry again.

It had been years since that evening, so much so, that it seemed more like a dream than an actual memory.

“How will ever find yer one?” Her mother had asked Bofur when she’d come home after a long day down in the mines, “Stop this act! Before it’s too late to ever truly turn back!”

“It already is Ma!” Bofur had laughed as she pulled her father’s hat from her head to place it upon its usual hook, “’sides…after Nori…I think I’ll keep me heart to myself thank ye very much!”

“The choice isn’t yours!” Her mother had called after her that night, “You’ll see!”

She did!

Bofur had finally seen what her mother had truly meant the minute she gazed in Bilbo’s eyes earlier that evening

But it was impossible, completely and utterly impossible! It was too late after all, there was too much risk and now...she just couldn't!

With that, Bofur laid her hatted head upon her folded arms, and wept.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Better Chapter coming up next.

Bofur loved celebrations, back home she eagerly anticipated Durin’s Day for a month or so before it actually came around, but here in Esgaroth, this was growing tiresome.

Every night the gracious villagers wanted to celebrate, give them food and wine, praise them, and thank them over and over again!

“They’re just showing us their support!” Bombur laughed happily as He plopped down next to Bofur, “Get a few more drinks down ye brother and, you’ll see, yer mood will improve!”

Bofur observed the still full mug in her hands, studied her brother with a deep set frown, and pushed her mug away with a sigh as she rose.

“Bofur,” Bombur started, his chubby face full of concern, but Bofur only tapped his shoulder lightly with a fist as she explained: “Just gotta clear me head is all…not long till we head to the mountain now!”

There was actually only four days remaining between then and now; four days that seperated her and the dragon, and Bofur shuddered violently.

She knew, as they all did, that when they’d all depart for the mountain each and every one of would face a frightening uncertainty.

Possibly flames.

Possibly a grumpy dragon.

Possibly a cruel and agonizing death. 

“I’m starting to sound like Dori with all my grumblin’!” Bofur muttered as she came to stand on the icy front porch, “Next thing ye know I’ll start babying Bombur the same way he does poor Ori!”

Inhaling the chilly air was pleasant, it eased the heat of her discontent, calmed her annoyances from the ruckus inside, and Bofur allowed her mind to wander.

Something She rarely did considering the burden she bore; one in her position always had to be alert, careful not to let anyone get too close, and above all else she had to keep her wits about her.

‘Especially now,’ Bofur admitted to her self, ‘Got me self tangled up somethin’ awful!”

She’d purposely avoided Bilbo when she’d gotten back from her walk last night, and narrowly avoided Nori whom had waited up for her.

Through out the next day they both had cast her unending expressions of worry, that is, when they weren’t busy glaring at each other. 

“Oh for goodness sake!” Bilbo shouted loudly and suddenly, causing Bofur to yelp and jump from where she stood, “A moment, I beg of you, just one bloody moment!”

Stumbling out onto the porch, having to catch him self by wrapping his arms about a post, the hobbit cast a seething glare over his shoulder, back at the open door.

“Show us your feet, show us your feet!” Bilbo hissed mockingly through gritted teeth, “and when that isn’t enough they pull at my ears!”

Watching him straighten his over sized shirt Bofur smirked and, after a moment more of studying the, hobbit advised:

“Ye should take to wearin’ a hat to hide ‘em…yer ears I mean.”

Bilbo, realizing he was not alone, looked wide eyed to where Bofur stood with a small, amused smile upon her face.

“Oh well…it probably still wouldn’t help to take the attention off of my feet,” Bilbo explained as he chuckled nervously, “The children-especially-love to pull at the hair!”

Bofur couldn’t help but grin, much to the hobbits chagrin, and she stared at his feet for a moment or so before remarking: “Well…they are rather captivating!”

Bilbo snorted, studied his massive feet, and then cast Bofur a suspicious stare and an arched eyebrow.

“Being cheeky, are we?”

“Not at all!” Bofur defended as she started digging around inside her tunic, “I just think the little ones here think you’re something…not of this world!”

“Oh,” Bilbo moaned, “That makes me feel a lot better!”

Pulling her pipe out with one hand, struggling to open her tobacco pouch with the other, Bofur realized that Bilbo was now watching her with great interest.

‘An’ here come’s another round o’ questions!’ Bofur told her self as she stuffed some stale tobacco into the bowl of her homemade pipe.

“Bofur-eh-I wanted to apologize to you.” 

The revelation came so gently and without warning that, just as she’d struck a match, Bofur paused and studied the hobbit before lighting her pipe.

“What fer?” Bofur asked as she tossed the match into the snow and exhaling the first of several large clouds of blue smoke, “Ye have done nothing to offend me.”

“Well,” Bilbo started, looking quite trouble for a minute, “I thought I had…you seemed to get up set when I…grabbed your knee the other night.”

“Oh that!” Bofur chuckled after she took another puff of her pipe, “It wasn’t tha’…just needed some air.”

Bilbo smirked and came to stand next to Bofur; following the dwarf’s gaze, the two of the them stood side by side in silence, admiring the glittering snow.

Looking at Bilbo, from the corner of her eye, Bofur realized that being near the halfling caused a deep sense of peace to settle upon her.

No one had ever made her feel that way, not once, not even when she'd once found comfort in Nori's arms all those years ago.

“Not long now,” Bilbo pointed out, hugging himself with his own arms to wield off the cold.

“hmmm?” Bofur hummed as she inhaled from her pipe again, “Whaddya mean?”

“Til we make our way to Erebor,” Bilbo clarified, and Bofur nodded slowly.

“It’ll be fine,” Bofur tried to assure, though she herself was still quite uncertain of what would become of any of them once they all entered the blessed mountain.

“What was your reasoning,” Bilbo asked then as He edged closer to the dwarf, “For joining the company I mean…it has to be the riskiest thing you’ve ever done-uh-c-considering certain…elements.”

“Elements?” Bofur repeated with a chuckle, “Tha’s the first time I’ve e’er heard them called tha’ before!”

Bilbo snorted, accepted the stinging but playful slap to his shoulder, and enjoyed a simple and pleasing moment with the grinning dwarf.

“As it is,” Bofur explained at last, “I’ve known Thorin fer years…even served as a guard fer him from time to time when he had to leave the Blue Mountains for any one of his numerous reasons.”

Tapping the ash from the bowl of her pipe, casting a smirk at Bilbo whom seemed amazed at how well the female dwarf had carried out her subterfuge for years, Bofur tucked her pipe away and continued:

“Then the time came, signs were shown, and he called upon only the strongest and most loyal dwarves to help him reclaim his birthright. Bifur was determined to go fer he’s never lost the desire to confront the Orc that buried that bit o’ metal in his head, Bombur and ‘is wife breed as much as they eat and Me? Well, I couldn’t let them go alone now, could I?”

When it had happened, Bofur wasn’t sure, but She found herself shoulder to shoulder with Bilbo; His hand only inches from her own as it lay upon the snow covered railing of the front porch.

Even more shocking, the dwarf realized, was the fact that she longed to take Bilbo’s hand in her own, regardless of where she was and who could possibly be watching.

“Very brave of you,” Bilbo was musing softly, “To come all this way just keep watch over the ones you love.”

Bofur snorted, nudged Bilbo’s shoulder with her own, and said with a sigh: “Nah, just blindly loyal and~”

“What’s going on?”

Bofur and Bilbo both spun around, a great sense of disappointment easing into dwarf's heart, to stare wide eyed at the one whom interuppted their private moment.

“Nothin’!” Bofur spat at Nori whom swayed in the doorway, “Just talkin’ is all!”

“Didn’t look like it!” Nori slurred, his glazed eyes bouncing from Bofur to Bilbo, whom glared hatefully at the inebriated dwarf.

“Oh Nori!” Bofur sighed, “Go back inside-to bed if ye like-yer tapped out fer the night!”

Nori, a thin line of drool escaping the corner of his mouth, kept his eyes only upon Bilbo who’d yet to ease his own heated glare.

“What is the matter with you?” Bilbo demanded then, “Don’t you realize the attention your calling to your self? Don’t you realize your putting Bofur at risk?”

A shadow veiled Nori’s face, a deep and threatening shadow, and Bofur gulped and said in a weak voice:

“’s nothin’ at all Nori…just go back inside…ye’ve had too much too drink tonight. Please! Go back inside!”

“Why do you care so much about Bofur, hm?” Nori demanded as he stumbled closer and closer to the hobbit whom stood defiantly against the intimidating dwarf with his arms crossed over his puffed up chest, “What’s she to you?”

“That’s none of your business!” Bilbo dared to bite back, much to Bofur's dismay, and She screamed just as the red haired dwarf lunged:

“NORI! STOP IT, DON’T!”


	8. Chapter Eight

“Ouch!”

“Sorry, Oin should be by in a moment, just has to make sure he aint dead.”

“Do you think he is?”

“Well…Dwalin does pack quite a punch.”

“Ouch!” Bilbo yelped again, and Bofur dropped her hand into her lap and cast Bilbo with an impatient gaze.

“Hurts,” Bilbo explained limply, “My nose is ruined!”

Cupping Bilbo’s chin with her hand, turning the hobbits bruised face from side to side, the dwarf replied: “Wait for Oin before ye make such deductions-and hold still-at least lemme get the blood off yer face!”

The fight, though brief, had brought about much blood and bruises.

Bofur doubted she’d ever forget how Nori had tackled Bilbo, sending them both over the railing, and when they’d fallen into the snow the dwarf preceded to assault the hobbit whom fought back as hard as he could.

Nori punched, strangled, and at last head butted poor Bilbo.

Bilbo, surprisingly, had held his own up until Nori cracked his forehead against the hobbit’s nose just as Thorin and Dwalin came and broke the two apart.

Had Dwalin not thrown his own punch, rendering Nori listless, Bofur doubted her old flame would have calmed down during that heated moment.

It had been humiliating, to her most of all, having several villagers come and watch the violent fray as She, Her king, and his most trusted friend tried to break up the fight and calm the two combatants.

But her humiliation had dissipated almost instantly and was replaced by deep fear when Nori began to shout: “She’s mine, she’s mine, she’s mine! That bloody halfling can’t have her!”

His hysterical declaration had caused Bofur to stand on the bottom step of the front porch, gawking at him, and after a moment she realized that Thorin studying and listening to the drunken dwarf intently.

“Bofur!” Thorin had spat after Dwalin had rendered Nori unconscious, “Get Bilbo up and inside! Take him to his room!”

She had done as ordered, and still she remained in Bilbo’s room, cleaning the hobbit and trying to quell his fears while struggling to ignore her own.

“No, Thorin won’t make ye leave, you’ll see!” She’d assured the hobbit after she helped change his bloody shirt.

“Nori attacked ye first, I saw, so I’ll vouch that it was in self defense,” She’d assured as she wiped dried blood from Bilbo’s cheek with a warm, wet cloth.

“What about you?” Bilbo asked softly, Bringing Bofur from her thoughts and causing her to stop what she was doing so she could study Bilbo with a blank expression.

“What do you…what do you think will happen now? I heard him, Nori, I heard what he shouted and…Bofur I’m so sorry!”

“Hush,” Bofur chided, “Ye just hush. It’s me own problem not yer own! I’ll be alright…I think!”

Bilbo scoffed, just as Bofur took his hand in hers so that she could clean off the dried blood, and the hobbit confessed:

“It wasn’t my intention, just so you know, when I came outside to talk to you…I didn’t mean to cause such trouble.”

“I thought ye came outside cause ye were getting tired of the villagers poking and prodding at ye,” Bofur replied as she finished the task and released Bilbo’s hand, “I thought they were goin’ on and on about yer feet.”

“They were,” Bilbo confirmed as Bofur rose to her feet, picked up the bowl, and went to pour out the dirty water into a tin basin in the corner.

“But I’d intended to speak with you tonight regardless.”

Her stomach tightened and, listening as Bilbo rose from the cot, Bofur dared to turn and observe the hobbit as He went to gaze out of the nearby window.

“More questions?” She asked gently, “I thought so! I noticed how ye stared…when I was smoking my pipe.”

“Oh, I knew before then that female dwarves take to the pipe like their men,” Bilbo confessed with a smile in his tone, “I just…wondered if you actually do it because you really like pipe weed…or because it makes it easier for you to play the game.”

“Both are correct,” Bofur confessed as she came to stand next to Bilbo, “Though I don’t smoke as much as Thorin, or any other male really, I can’t stand the way it causes my hair to stink!” 

“Thorin,” Bilbo mused and he stiffened, “Where is he? Is he talking to Nori?”

“I don’t know,” Bofur explained, knowing full well why the hobbit was asking about the King’s whereabouts. 

“He’ll be by soon I imagine…Needs to get all the details.”

“Bofur…” Bilbo started to stay, and their eyes met then.

“’s fine,” Bofur lied, “It’ll be alright.”

It was then the hobbit did it.

In a flash he’d cupped Bofur’s cheek and pressed his lips against hers, causing Bofur to give a muffled cry, and step back. 

Gawking at Bilbo, observing how flushed his cheeks had become, Bofur sucked in her breath and then gasped:

“Oh…Bless me!”

Without another word spoke, Bofur gently came back into the hobbit’s arms.

The loud, almost violent, rapping at the door caused them to break their brief embrace.

Dwalin stepped through not even a second later, his dark eyes bouncing from hobbit to dwarf, and then her growled in his usual tone:

“Thorin’s askin’ fer ye Bofur-he’s down in the dining room-be quick! We’re already to get this garbage tossed fer the night! Honestly...if it were me I'd snap all o' yer necks because of whats happened! Made us all look bad!”

“But,” Bilbo had started to protest, but Bofur held up her hand and cast the hobbit a very faint smile after she mouthed: ‘It’s alright.’

Becoming silent again, walking past Dwalin without meeting his gaze, Bofur headed out of Bilbo’s room and down the stairs to meet with her leader.  
****************************************************************************************************************************  
“Thorin,” Bofur offered as she bowed before, the King whom sat at the head of long and sturdy table.

“Sit,” Thorin ordered sharply with a point of his finger, his eyes hard and unreadable. 

“There’s something you need to confirm. Something you need to explain.”


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weak chapter...but I'm very slowly revealing how Bofur is letting her guard down in front of Bilbo and whatnot.

“You heard what Nori was shouting, shouting like a fool, did you not?”

“Aye…I heard it and so did all the others that saw it happen.”

“This is not how, I had hoped, the company would act. Thrown together as we are…we must carry our selves with dignity or none shall take us seriously.”

“I do! I always have! Fer you, when ye asked me of it I mean!”

“You failed this night.”

Her words caught in her throat as Thorin rose and slowly made his way over to her, his eyes never leaving her own, and he came to loom over Bofur menacingly.

“Th-Thorin…My lord,” Bofur stammered, “This was all an…unfortunate occurrence but I pray ye take into account the fealty that I have shown ye o’er the years!”

Thorin inclined his head, studied Bofur for a few tense moments, and then remarked softly: 

“Which is why I find it so surprising that this all happened-now of all times-when I need nothing less than utmost loyalty! The three of you humiliated the rest of the company tonight.”

“It was Nori whom did tha’,” Bofur protested as delicately as she could even though her heart was hammering in her chest, “I didn’t know-I could never have imagined…. He attacked Bilbo first and~”

“Over the affections of another, correct?”

‘Don’t cry, don’t ye dare show a single tear!’ Bofur told her self, feeling as though she would faint under the weight of Thorin’s oppressive stare.

Gulping loudly, inhaling deeply for a moment, Bofur nodded and said in barely above a whisper:

“Aye…that’s true Thorin…Nori has been jealous of Bilbo e’er since…for sometime.”

“What’s her name?” Thorin demanded calmly, studying the fingernails of one hand, “The one that those to squabbled over.”

Bofur flinched slightly, squinted at Thorin who waited patiently for her to answer, and She asked in a tight voice:

“I’m sorry, I-I don’t understand…what girl?”

“Nori claims that he’d shown interest in a local girl, a bar maid,” Thorin explained as he turned and went to sit back down, “He alleges Bilbo, knowing this, still openly pursued the same girl.”

“Oh…” Bofur breathed, unable to hide her relieved smile, “Aye…there was a girl a few days ago when He and I some o’ the others went there, to the tavern, I mean. But I did not catch ‘er name.”

It was a half-truth, there had been a mortal bar maid that Nori had flirted with, but he had no interest in her and Bofur knew it!

It was the thief’s way, to chat up innocent young females working in taverns, if only in the hopes that his mug would continuously be filled with free ale for the night.

Nori had used this lie before, when he’d tussled with a group of other dwarves, some years ago when they’d pulled a knife on Bofur.

‘Least I remember how to play my part,’ Bofur thought as she watched Thorin absorb all the information He’d gathered through the night, ‘But…will he believe it?’

How long she sat, praying and worrying, Bofur wasn’t sure. But a cold tingling went down her spine when Thorin at last sighed and announced:

“Nori said just about the same since you only stayed a little while that night and haven’t since gone back there. Very well, see to Bilbo, and then get to bed.”  
****************************************************************************************************************************  


“Bo, please, just a moment!”

“I’ve nothin’ to say to ye! Be off!”

“Please!” Nori begged in a shrill whisper, “I kept you outta danger after all! I-I lied to Thorin for pity’s sake!”

“Aye!” Bofur spat back in a venomous whisper, “and ye shouldn’t have had to do tha’!”

“Bo,” Nori whined, putting himself between Bilbo’s door and his impatient friend, “I’m sorry!”

“You and I are way past sorry,” Bofur confessed softly, waving a hand to make her point.

“Ye best just avoid me, and Bilbo, fer the remainder of this whole thing! Because if ye don’t I swear…I’ll make ye sorry I ever let you know who I truly was all those years ago! Now move, Thorin told me to check on the hobbit, and then I’m off to bed!”

When Bofur closed the door loudly behind her, inches from Nori’s distraught face, the other dwarf stood staring at the door for a few moments.

Listening to their muffled voices and wondering just what it was they were saying to each other.

Bofur laughed then, and Nori’s sadness gave way to a fresh rage, and he balled his hands into tight fists.

“Fine!” He hissed as he stomped toward his own room for the night, “It can’t be helped!”  
*****************************************************************************************************************************  
“So, it’s not broken, eh?”

Bilbo gently poked at his swollen nose with a single finger and shook his head.

“Still look like I was beaten half to death though,” The hobbit sighed, letting Bofur join him on his cot, “So…there’s nothing else to be worried about then?”

Bofur shook her head, leaned in close, and planted a kiss on Bilbo’s cheek.

“Nothin’ at all,” She confessed, enjoying the gleam that danced in the hobbits eyes as He stared at her, “Nori, for once, did something for someone else and kept them from getting’ tossed into the fire.”

“Will he stop now, though, that’s what I wonder!” Bilbo confessed as he leaned and placed his elbows upon his knees as he thought, “He certainly likes to…let his presence be known!”

“Oh, aye,” Bofur agreed as she crossed her legs and leaned against the walls, “I dunno, love, I…he’s never really been able to lemme go. Perhaps it’s do with the life he lives and the life I live and we dwarves, obviously, are a very jealous people!”

“I see that now,” Bilbo sighed, “But I fear-I wonder-just how jealous that one dwarf can be.”

“Don’t worry,” Bofur offered as she rubbed Bilbo’s back, “He would never betray me in that way!”


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for moving so fast, but like I said, I'll slow down soon enough :-)

“You must be careful, I’m not-we're not- trying to control ye, but in just two more days all o’ this will be over with and then you’ll be able to do as ye please!”

Bofur, making sure to un-tuck her borrowed tunic just enough to disguise her figure, snorted and shook her head as she kept her back to her concerned brother.

“Still yer tongue, will ye!” Bofur chided as she began to purposefully braid her hair sloppily, “It’s all been fine! Now that Nori isn’t makin’ a fool o’ himself…things have been normal!”

“No they haven’t,” Her cousin Bifur barked then, “They all have started notice how close you and the hobbit have become! How you both go off for hours on end!”

“We go for walks,” Bofur corrected as He finished one braid and started on the other, “We talk is all.”

“I’ve seen ye this way before,” Bombur argued with a delicate point of his finger, “You’re lettin’ yer heart get the better of ye!”

“Don’t be silly,” Bofur chuckled even though her impatience was growing, “I know what I’m doin’!”

“You said the same thing when you lost your head with Nori!” Bifur growled, “Even he has come and told us he’s worried for you! That if you’re not careful…we don’t want you to be harmed!”

“Leave it!” Bofur growled, “I’m still the head of this family and I won’t be bossed around by the two o’ ye!”

“We’re not trying to boss you around,” Bombur protested while Bifur moaned and shook his head, “But you and Bilbo have stuck together ever since the fight and you’re changing! You’re playing a dangerous game, Bo! You shouldn’t be considering that we’re leaving soon!”

Grabbing her hat, shooting both of her blood kin a dangerous sneer, Bofur departed their room without another word and headed down to breakfast and Bilbo.  
****************************************************************************************************************************** They’d spent most of the day, under Thorin’s orders, preparing weapons and packing supplies onto their borrowed boat, but they were sure to cast each other soft smiles and lingering gazes when they could.

Bofur was amazed, still, that their friendship had progressed into something more ever since they’d shared a few brief kisses not long ago.

It had made her head spin when Bofur thought of how quickly their bond had deepened. Yet she didn’t regret it.

Instead as she thought over the past few days, though some gazed at her curiously, a soft smile danced on her lips.

She felt so safe with Bilbo and trusted him completely.

Unlike with Nori, a fellow dwarf, Bofur had to admit that she felt nothing short of wanted by the hobbit who, in her opinion, was so much more than her where social class was concerned.

With Nori she’d often felt like a convenience, he stopped by when it pleased him, either coming or going. Running from the fists of Dwalin or hiding from them before sneaking off to commit another series of petty crimes.

Even their most intimate moments seemed shallow; an act that was over so quickly, it left Bofur feeling more empty than before.

But with the hobbit, with Bilbo, it was all very new to her.

She loved him that was sure enough, and when Bofur thought on it, She realized she’d always carried a deep torch for him ever since meeting him back in the Shire so long ago.

“Bofur?”

The dwarf startled, offered a grin to the hobbit, and handed the next satchel of supplies to Dwalin whom loaded them in the boat they were to use not long from then.

“Aye,” Bofur asked as she and Bilbo made there way back to their lodgings, breaking for lunch, “sorry I was thinkin’ and all.”

"Come," Bilbo said, "Let's get some lunch. We'll come back to this later."

Bilbo quickly grasped, then to her dismay, released Bofur’s hand as they walked away side by side.

As they neared their lodgings, ignoring Nori's glare from where he stood on the front porch, Bilbo leaned and asked in a whisper: “Later?”

Bofur gave a encouraging nod, knowing what it was the hobbit meant.

“Later,” She replied, “After I’ve got Bifur to bed o’course!”  
***************************************************************************************************************************** Later couldn’t come soon enough, for Bofur at least, for her stomach was in knots by the time she’d ensured Bifur would sleep through the night instead of flying into a rage and attacking some poor unsuspecting dwarf.

“Going out again?” A voice as just as Bofur had started down the stairs to meet Bilbo; “It’s getting cold out.”

Swallowing her groan, struggling with her growing impatience, Bofur turned and glared up at where Nori stood, observing with a blank expression.

“’s not yer business, what I do I mean, is it?”

Nori sighed shook his head and, after looking over his shoulder, looked back at Bofur and asked: “Have you…already? With the hobbit?”

“Ach Nori!” Bofur spat as she stomped down the stairs, “Get to bed and leave me in peace will ye?”

Nori watched until Bofur was out of his sight, tears in brimming in his eyes, and he sniffled as he at last decided what he had to do.

“I have to help her!’ Nori told himself as he made his way to his destination, ‘She’ll get her self killed if I don’t do something!’

Knocking on the door, Nori instantly felt the urge to run, to forget his plan. But that all ended when the door slowly creaked open and a single, blue-grey observed him curiously.

“Nori?” Thorin asked as he opened the door wider, “Why have you come?”

Clearing his throat, offering a rare bow to the king, Nori announced in a weak and trembling voice: “There’s something you need to know about the hobbit!”  
***************************************************************************************************************************** 

“Well, that was something, wasn’t it?”

Bofur lying on her back and completely nude, draped an arm over Bilbo's lap as he sat up, pressed against a hail bail as he thought.

“I’ll say,” Bofur mused with a satisfactory sigh as she began to trace a path down the hobbits bare chest with a single finger, “No body ever got me that way…the way ye did tonight.”

“Damn near shattered the windows,” Bilbo chuckled softly as he played with Bofur’s dark hair, “I didn’t think I could ever make any one…cry out the way you did!”

Chuckling, readjusting her self so that she could lay her head in Bilbo’s lap, Bofur observed her lover thoughtfully for a moment or so before remarking:

“I didn’t think there was any truth in the whole big feet theory…but I guess I was wrong!”

“Oh hush!” Bilbo scolded, tickling Bofur’s flat belly, getting a giggle out of the dwarf as he did.

"Oh," Bofur sighed after she'd stopped the hobbits playful assault, "Um...I'm sorry fer...thank ye, I mean, fer not...you know? Doing it inside me?"

"Don't apologize," Bilbo answered with a soft smile, "I understand. It would be a terrible thing! What, with what we'll be undertaking-facing-not long from now."

A dark and depressing realization came over Bofur then, the light went from her eyes, and a frown shadowed her face as she continued to clutch Bilbo’s mischievous hand in both of hers. 

“Don’t Bilbo urged, caressing Bofur’s cheek with his free hand, “Don’t think on it, stay in this moment, don’t loose it.”

Bofur met Bilbo’s soft gaze then, offered a shrug and only returned the delicate kiss the hobbit bestowed to her lips.

“Promise,” Bilbo said softly after a moment of peace had went by silently, and Bofur observed him with a curious gaze.

“Promise you will try-the same as I-promise that you’ll try to survive, no matter what!”

“I promise,” Bofur answered quickly and without hesitation as she reached up and pulled Bilbo’s face inches from her own, “I swear it!”

Their passionate vow was violently interrupted from below the loft where they lay, when the door to the abandoned building burst open, and the light of a lantern illuminated the entire first floor.

“Bofur! Bilbo!” Dwalin barked, “If the two of ye are in ‘ere ye best show yer selves! Thorin’s needin’ to speak with both of ye, NOW!”

Bilbo rose to his feet, laced his trousers shut, and nodded at Bofur to begin to dress, even though his eyes were wide and full of fear.

Bofur, clutching her over sized shirt, sniffled and moaned:

“Oh Nori…what ‘ave ye done?”


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori's plan goes awry and so Bofur is at the mercy of the King-Under-The-Mountain.
> 
> (definitely going to slow down now....whew!)

“Don’t hurt her!” Bilbo shouted when, as Bofur put a single booted foot on the bottom floor, Dwalin grabbed her roughly and spun her around.

“Ye know,” Dwalin huffed, “Ye took a piss with me an’ the others several times! Tha’s why I didn’t believe the thievin’ oaf at first! But then, when we searched yer things, I found this!”

Holding the implement in front of Bofur, she gulped, stared apologetically at Bilbo whom stood beside Gloin, and offered only a weak shrug.

“Being a toy maker came in handy fer ye, didn’t it, ye disgusting freak!” Dwalin spat

Tossing the whittled instrument over Bofur’s head, to Bilbo’s horror, Dwalin strode forward and landed a solid punch into the startled dwarf’s gut. 

“Stop it!” Bilbo pleaded and, though he’d made to move toward Bofur, Gloin restrained him.

Bofur fell to her hands and knees, gasping for breath, while Dwalin observed Her with a disapproving scowl.

“Get up!” He ordered, and when Bofur didn’t obey, with one hand he hoisted the small dwarf up to her feet by the back of her tunic.

“Ye will be lucky if Thorin’ decides to spare ye,” Dwalin was pointing out to Bofur as he dragged her out of the abandoned building with Gloin and Bilbo following swiftly behind them.

“Considering disguised females in the company of males is considered bad luck and-ye know very well-we’ve had plenty of it!”  
****************************************************************************************************************************** 

“You selfish son of a whore!” Bilbo growled, lunging at the startled dwarf, “You’ve killed her you bastard!”

Fili and Kili had to each take one of Bilbo’s arms to hold him back from Nori whom cowered behind Dori.

“I haven’t!” Nori protested as Balin called for order among those whom waited in the cramped dining hall, “I told Thorin to take you!”

“But he didn’t!” Bilbo yelped, “He took Bofur! You stupid fool you’ve murdered her!”

“Gloin take Nori else where!” Balin ordered, “Take Dori and Ori with ye, and you two, Fili and Kili, let Bilbo go and leave ‘im with me and get outta here! Find something else to do and keep this matter quiet!”

After they’d all gone, leaving just Bilbo and wizened dwarf alone, the hobbit plopped down at the table and rested his head in his hands.

“An odd day,” Balin remarked with a sigh, “and things were a bit more cheerful than they have been, wouldn’t you agree Master Baggins?”

“Will he kill her?” Bilbo asked with a sniffle as Balin came and sat across from him, “Will Thorin order Bofur’s execution?”

Balin sighed, admired his fine black leather glove, and stated softly: “It is the law in Erebor…amongst our people.”

“But we are not in Erebor amongst your people!” Bilbo argued in a whiny tone, “He can't possibly forget that Bofur has served He dutifully through the years too!”

“Bilbo, ye must understand,” Balin sighed again as he met the hobbits emotional gaze, “Fer Bofur to do what he-she-did fer so long…as our king Thorin must be careful to not be seen as biased.”

“Are-are you telling me…that Bofur will die, regardless of the things she’s done for all of you this entire time, because Thorin has to keep up his appearance?” Bilbo demanded as a tear scarred his cheek, “is that what you’re telling me?”

“That, and she has lied for some time,” Balin pointed out, “There was a chance fer a pardon…but having not said anything and-and after all the hardship we’ve had on this quest…we are a superstitious folk after all. That’s why we needed ye on our journey fer none of us wanted to go with just a company of thirteen!”

“If Thorin is king then-then surely he can change the laws!” Bilbo protested, and Balin observed the hobbit with great pity then, “Surely he’ll take into account that all that we’ve endured has not to do with Bofur’s deception!”

“Bilbo,” Balin said, his gloved hand resting atop Bilbo’s bare one, “Thorin has always liked Bofur-aye that could help-but…fer now lad, my advise? I think ye best prepare yer self.”

“But,” Bilbo whimpered as his chin quivered and he looked up at the ceiling, “I love her!”  
***************************************************************************************************************************** 

She was herded into Thorin’s room, Oin in front of her, while Dwalin stomped behind her.

All the while she kept her eyes cast to the floor so that none would see her frightened tears fall.

“Well?” She heard Thorin asked as the came to a stop, “Did you examine it?”

Oin cleared his throat and said: “Aye, a fully developed female. There are no signs of abnormality. She only dresses like one of us.”

“Were there signs that…has the hobbit known her?” Thorin asked, then cleared his throat, as if the very question caused him to feel ill.

“Yes,” Oin sighed, looking over his shoulder at Bofur who bit back a sob, “She was brought to me, it looks like, not long after they had laid together.”

Dwalin snorted and muttered something Bofur didn’t catch just as Thorin ordered that Oin depart.

When Oin had gone, Dwalin stayed behind the dwarf, his eyes glaring hard into her back, as she was left to stand before her King.

“I trust, Bofur, that you haven’t been harmed?”

Bofur didn’t answer Thorin’s question at first, but when Dwalin thumped her shoulder harshly she yelped, and shook her head.

“Dwalin,” Thorin warned, “I think I would be correct in assuming that Bofur has cooperated fully with all of this. There is no need to be rough.”

Bofur sniffled, wiped her nose on her sleeve, and dared not look to where the King sat observing her quietly.

“I don’t suppose you’ve a dress packed, do you? In your pack I mean?” Thorin asked softly as he rose and went to where a water pitcher sat upon a small vanity table, “ I would imagine not given I doubt you ever thought that you would be discovered, eh?”

“Obviously not!” Dwalin mewled, “Stupid filth!”

“I planned to take me leave!” Bofur whimpered quickly, “after I’d gotten my share ‘n after I’d made sure my kin would be safe My Lord…I planned to leave!”

“Tha’ doesn’t take away from the fact you’ve humiliated your king this night! It doesn’t explain why ye knowingly deceived him fer years!” Dwalin growled, slapping Bofur hard upside her head and causing the terrified dwarf to stumble and fall against the wall.

“Dwalin, leave us, I’ve no further need of you tonight,” Thorin explained as he began to pour water into two cups, “I will call for you, however, if I feel the need. Go!”

“Try anythin’ funny and it won’t just be you that dies!” Dwalin threatened softly just before he turned and stomped out of Thorin’s room.

“Come here,” Thorin ordered as he held out a cup to the trembling toy maker, “Drink some water. You’ve nothing to fear.”

Bofur went forward and took the cup, took a small sip, and still refused to meet Thorin’s eyes even after the King had reseated himself.

“Is Bofur your real name then?” Thorin asked softly, “Or is that another lie?”

“It is!” Bofur squeaked, nearly dropping the cup as she spoke, “My Dad-My father longed fer a boy so badly that when I was born he kept the name.”

“I see,” Thorin sighed, “How long have you been doing this? How long have you carried on with your deception?”

Bofur inhaled loudly, exhaled deeply, and muttered her answer so low Thorin ordered for her to repeat herself.

“Since we left Dunland,” Bofur answered weakly, “Since I was still a strapling .”

Thorin sucked in his breath, hummed to himself, and then after emptying his cup of water sighed and said: “That doesn’t bode well for you I’m afraid.”

“What will become of Bilbo?” Bofur dared to ask shyly, “What will ye do to him? What will ye do to my kin?”

“They are the least of your worries,” Thorin answered sharply, his blue eyes shining with anger, “Come here, kneel at my feet so that I can look at you!”

After setting her cup on the nightstand, Bofur did as she was ordered, and when she had she finally looked up at her brooding king.

Thorin pinched Bofur’s chin between his thumb and index finger, turning her face side to side, and offered a loud huff when he released her.

“The hat really does make all the difference,” Thorin pointed out as he slouched in his chair and rested the side of his head in his hand, “I can see it a little without it.”

Upon her knees, Bofur could hold it back no more, and she softly began to weep while Thorin stared at her in a most peculiar way.

“I trusted you, I liked you, I counted you as a friend for years…but this how you repay my friendship?” Thorin demanded through Bofur’s soft sobs, “You had every opportunity! You had several chances to tell me the truth!”

“Forgive me, my lord!” Bofur whimpered, “I-my family-we n-needed money fer Bifur’s medicine b-b-because without it his convulsions would have never stopped, He would be dead by now! And-and Bombur and Sela have so many children…There were many times I wanted to end the deception my lord, Thorin, I swear! Many times!”

“But-you-did-not!” Thorin pointed out, pounding his fist upon the table with each word, “Nor did your kin ever decide to reveal you! Now some in company wonder if you and your kin are responsible for all the ill times we've had on this journey, ”

“Please!” Bofur yelped and gripped Thorin’s hand in hers, “Please show them mercy, please! I am the one truly at fault not them!”

Looking into Bofur’s damp eyes, seeing how her tears shined in the candle light, it was almost too much and Thorin jerked his hand free and looked away from the pleading dwarf.

“I don’t know,” Thorin admitted with a sigh as he thought after a few moments, “I just do not know Bofur.”

“Please,” Bofur begged once more, “Please…even though I kept my true identity from ye…know that my loyalty and love fer yer is true! The same can be said fer my kin!”

Thorin rose, Bofur made a despairing sound, and the dwarf King came to stand before an ice-covered window.

“What will we do? What is the proper thing to do?”

“If I am to be put to death,” Bofur sniffled, “I accept that but please, PLEASE spare me kin and poor Bilbo! They should not follow me into death! I made them stay quiet!”

Bofur looked over to where Thorin stood then, her sob stalling in her throat, and to her growing distress, her growing fear…

“Th-Thorin m-my lord?” She asked, only to have the king hold up a hand to silence her and he nodded at the empty corner he stared at.

‘Is he…listening to somebody?’ Bofur wondered, and it was then Thorin nodded, and turned around to face Bofur who still kneeled.

“You said before your love and loyalty-despite your subterfuge-were the truest things about you,” Thorin explained as he came back to loom over Bofur, “you said I could trust that from you kin as well-get up-are you certain?”

‘He was listening to somebody…Oh Mahal…what’s goin’ on?’ 

Bofur rose to her feet just and saw, in Thorin's eyes, something that frightened her more than the possibility of her own beheading.

“Can you be loyal?” Thorin asked softly, “Can you love me, even now?”

Swallowing, still fearing a premature end to her life, Bofur nodded lightly and answered in a weak voice:

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did y'all get the idea that Thorin IS starting to loose his mind?


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler chapter. 
> 
> Shamed and thinking she's no good to any more, Bofur makes a drastic decision.

“What do you mean she doesn’t want to see me? Please, I just want to make sure she’s alright!”

Bombur put a thick hand on the exhausted hobbit’s shoulder, his face conveying deep sympathy, yet still Bofur’s younger brother shook his head.

“She’s…out of sorts right now,” He explained, “You’ll be glad to know that she’s not to be…any ways, it's late, and she needs to rest."

“Out of sorts?” Bilbo questioned, ignoring the rest of the information Bombur had given him, “What do you mean?”

Bombur hesitated, looked over His shoulder, then turned back to the hobbit and said in a low voice: "Please, you can see her tomorrow. Just let her rest for now, Bilbo, please?”

“Oh…alright,” The hobbit conceded, “But, I warn you, as soon as I am up and dressed I shan’t be stopped from seeing her! No matter what!”

Bombur smirked, nodded, and bid the hobbit a good evening before stepping back into his room and shutting the door behind him.

“Oh, Bo…what happened?” He asked as he came and kneeled beside the cot on which Bofur lay.

Bofur was curled into a tight ball, weeping softly, with her head in her cousins lap, yet she didn’t answer.

“Sleep,” She muttered at last, “I just wanna sleep!”

Bifur and Bombur stared at each other, the former signing something with a free hand, and Bombur bit his bottom lip and nodded just before he rose to his feet.

“Sleep then,” Bombur encouraged Bofur, “Just sleep Bofur…it’s all over now.”  
****************************************************************************************************************************** 

The next morning, the others were woken early and ordered to dress and eat quickly.

“Let’s get their silly little celebration over and be done with it,” Thorin had said as he exited his room, “I tire of these people and this place!

Bilbo, however, ate nothing and only sat silently between Balin and Dwalin, waiting for Bombur to fulfil his promise to him.

When He was finally allowed to see her, the Hobbit noticed instantly that the joyful light had gone from her eyes, and that Bofur seemed to have withered over night.

“Hello darling,” Bilbo offered as he came and knelt beside Bofur who sat in chair, staring absently out of a nearby window.

“Bombur told me…He told me you wouldn’t be joining us but that’s just fine! I’d rather you be kept safe and out of harms way.”

Bilbo cast his eyes to the nightstand, the plate of food Bombur had brought up earlier was untouched, and when he looked back at Bofur he delicately took one of her hands in his.

“I’ll come back,” Bilbo stated softly, “Just like I promised. I’ll come back and then~”

She’d said it so softly that Bilbo barely caught it, and to his dismay Bofur pulled her hand free of his, and a rogue tear flushed down Bofur’s cheek when she observed Her distraught lover.

“No,” Bofur whispered again, shaking her head, “When ye-if ye do come back…don’t come back fer me…I can’t…I don’t want ye any more.”

A great sinking feeling overcame the hobbit and he rose to his feet then, observing Bofur in utter disbelief, and he took a few steps back.

“But…” He started, “Bofur I-I know it’s all gone so quickly and there was some trouble but…y-you can’t mean that!”

“But I do,” Bofur confessed, her tone strengthening with conviction, “I do, Bilbo, and I’m tellin’ ye there will be no more. Nothing between you and I anymore! Now go, I want to be alone, and you’ve got an important task ahead of ye.”

“Bofur…what happened? What did Thorin do to you?”

Bofur stiffened, her mind involuntarily recalling what had happened, and she grimaced and shook her head wildly.

“Go!” She ordered, “Go on then! Leave me alone!”

“Bofur,” Bilbo pleaded, coming and kneeling once more beside the dwarf, “Tell me what’s wrong! Tell me what happened!”

His answer came in one solid, violent slap that sent the hobbit back onto his bottom.

“Let me alone!” Bofur bellowed as tears streamed down her face, “Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone! I can't have ye! JUST GO!"  
***************************************************************************************************************************** 

Thorin had given her some money, a fistful of coins, telling her to take up a room at the inn only a few buildings down from where they had been staying.

“If fate allows it, then your kin should send for you, if not…”

Thorin had only smirked and taken his leave.

It wasn’t until her friends, family, and lover had disappeared into the crowd of cheering villagers that Bofur grabbed up a blanket and wrapped it about her self like a cloak; determined to see them off as it was the only thing she could now do.

As they boarded the boat her eyes remained on the halfling, her heart heavy with despair, when she realized that he was as devastated as she.

“Oh, fergive me,” Bofur mumbled as she watched Bilbo searching the crowd from her hiding spot, “But I’m no good to ye now…not anymore.”

When the band began to play, as the boat sailed off toward the mountain looming in the distance, Bofur turned and began making her way back to the lodgings.

Per Thorin’s orders, she was to gather her things and wait at the inn.

Bofur however, the instant the King had shamed her, had other intentions for the coins that rattled in her pocket.  


Finding Bard had been easy enough. 

He had just boarded his small ferry and had begun to untie the it from the dock when he’d looked up and glanced Bofur hurrying towards him.

“Should you not be elsewhere, Master Dwarf?” Bard inquired as he straightened up and looked down at the panting dwarf.

“I was…it was decided I not go,” Bofur huffed as she resituated her thrown-together pack, “Please…I have money!”

Bard leaned his head to one side, obviously suspicious, and then he asked: “You…wish me to take you? Where though?”

“Oh…back to where ye found us I suppose,” Bofur offered with a nervous smile, “I’ll go on me own from there.”

“It’s dangerous, even I know that,” Bard pointed out much to Bofur’s dismay, “Why would risk such a venture?”

Pulling the coins into view, jingling them under Bard’s nose, the dwarf replied: “My reasons are my own, will ye take me sir, or not?”

After a moment, studying the dwarf’s payment, Bard at last sighed and jutted his thumb; “Get on,” He ordered, “We’ll be off in a moment.”  
**************************************************************************************************************************** “Thank ye, truly, I appreciate it,” Bofur said as She stepped off the boat and onto the rocky shore, “Please tell no one that ye have brought me here. It’s fer the best!”

“You dwarves!” Bard mused with a dry laugh, “So secretive that you even keep secrets from each other!”

“It’s the way of things!” Bofur explained with a wave of her hand, “Good day to ye sir and thank ye again!” 

“Wait,” Bard called, reaching down beside him, and bringing a small satchel into view.

“Just some bread and cheese,” He explained holding it out to the hesitant dwarf, “I noticed you brought no food for your…where are you going?”

“Back home I imagine,” Bofur lied, still uncertain as to whether or not to take the small bag of food, “I can’t take your food, sir, it would be wrong!”

“I can eat when I get home,” Bard explained, “Take it. You need it more.”

With a sigh, Bofur took the ferryman’s offer, and bowed.

“Good luck to you,” Bard said as the dwarf turned her back and started to walk away, “Be safe!”


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very Short Chapter in which Bofur see the light at the end of the forest while Bilbo is determined to find out what became of her.

SOME TIME LATER:

By the looks of it, though the branches were thick and blocked most of her few as she looked up, it was not long past noon. 

‘Tha’s somethin’,’ Bofur thought with a sigh, ‘Still got plenty o’ time and…I’m pretty sure this is the right path.’

With another sigh, Bofur decided it was best to eat the small lunch Bard had gifted her, and just as she made to unknot the small pouch, She stiffened.

It was like thunder, rolling in slowly, but her ears were sharp and the dwarf could tell the difference almost immediately. 

‘Feet,’ She thought fearfully, ‘hundreds of them!’

Dropping the bag of food, leaping up and swiping up her pack, Bofur’s eyes dashed around frantically until she’d spotted the perfect hiding spot.

It wasn’t long when, after squeezing into the hollow trunk of a rotting tree, they descended into her view. 

Armored, weapon bearing Elven foot soldier’s, led by their king upon a saddled Elk, and going in the direction that she had been traveling from.

Esgaroth.

‘Mahal,’ Bofur prayed, ‘Please…let them be alright!’  
******************************************************************************************************************************  
THAT EVENING:

Wiping his eyes, watching Bard and the elven King leave from where he stood upon the stone parapet, His thoughts were only of one being.

“Bofur,” Bilbo mumbled, “Bofur-please-I pray that you’re alright…that you survived what could have been avoided…please don’t be dead!”

“I would dry your tears Master Baggins,” Thorin Oakenshield, his family crown upon his head, remarked as he came to stand beside the grieving hobbit.

“There is no room for softness now and I need you to be strong as I need all of those in my company to be strong.”

“Did they-Did Bard say anything about Bofur?” Bilbo asked as he struggled to regain his calm demeanor, “Did He say whether or not Bofur was among their…th-their dead or~”

“What did I just say?” Thorin asked impatiently, as he placed his arms behind his back, and sneered at the departing mortal and elven parties.

“But…” Bilbo started, anger swelling inside of him then, “What if they have her? What if they think they can hold for some kind of ransom?”  


To his amazement, Thorin snorted, and waved his hand.

“He-She-is just a toy maker Bilbo,” He explained, “and shall I remind you…She almost ruined your chances of earning your share of the treasure.”

“Thorin,” Bilbo gasped, “You may keep my share! All I want is to know is if Bofur~”

“There are more important matters, Bilbo,” Thorin sighed as he leaned against the parapet, “Forget her! Go find Dwalin and have him help you to find suitable armor…this night is far from over!”

Bilbo jolted, as if stung, and he asked with a disbelieving scoff, “You really think we’re capable of holding back two armies? You’re mad if you think we stand a chance!”

Thorin turned his face slowly, his eyes shimmering in away that caused a shiver of apprehension to course down Bilbo’s spine.

“Go,” Thorin ordered venomously, “You haven’t got long!”

‘I’m not giving up!’ Bilbo told himself over and over again as he bounded past his armored comrades and made his way to where he’d stored his bedroll, ‘I’m going to find out what happened to her and…and if she still lives I’ll win her back somehow!’  
**************************************************************************************************************************** 

‘I can see it!’ Bofur thought joyfully, ‘I’m almost out!’

She could see clearly, with her dwarven eyes, the blessed exit! The vast field that lay before the dark forest.

A sense of utter relief and joy flooded through her and she broke into a slow jog.

She’d made it through the abysmal forest with no harm done!

Unable to contain her self, the dwarf broke into a run, as a grin spread across her face.

“Oh!” Bofur gasped suddenly, and the grin gave away to a horrified grimace.

Stumbling over a fallen branch, yelping at the pain as her ankle twisted unnaturally, Bofur landed with a loud thud and groan.

“Damn it all,” Bofur whined as she at last sat up and rubbed her aching foot, “Not now, of all times, please not now!”

Moving the wounded ankle a little, Bofur cursed; realizing it was badly sprained.

“Well,” She whispered, “I just gotta find me a branch I can hobble along with! Shouldn’t be hard considering…”

All her senses became alert and she gulped loudly as she listened to the sound behind her.

She’d thought she’d been clever enough, that on her own she wouldn’t attract attention, but she listened as it began its menacing crawl towards her.

‘Mahal,’ Bofur prayed as she began to sneak her trembling fingers into her other boot slowly, ‘Just give me a moment…one blessed moment!”

It hissed, She remembered how’d they’d hissed before, and she fought the urge to scream.

‘It’s just one,’ Bofur told herself, ‘Easy target…just behind ye…just throw the blade like Nori showed ye and run! Yer ankle be damned!’

The gap between them was closing , the spider had sped up its crawl, and with on last silent prayer Bofur readied her self!

Turning she threw the blade blindly just as the creature squealed loudly.

“Get Away!”


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo infuriates Thorin before the BOTFA....Bofur is rescued by a most peculiar creature while Bombur and Bifur solidly decide what to do about their missing family member just as Bofur wakes in a most peculiar, yet familiar, place. (if you think on it long enough that is)

“You…you undersized traitor…you pathetic…. FILTH!”

“Thorin!” Balin protested as the king-under-the-mountain lunged and grabbed Bilbo’s throat, squeezing out the hobbit's cries of protest, “Let him be! It was for the best!”

“He did it out of selfishness!” Thorin seethed, and Bilbo whimpered, trying in vain to free him self from the dwarf’s vice like grip.

“Do you think…for one instant…she returned your affections?” thorin asked in a taunting whisper, a dangerous smile playing on his face, “You-Master Hobbit-were a convenience!”

“Thorin,” Fili cried, running forward and grabbing Thorin’s free arm, “Please! You’ll kill him! Let him go! He did his part!”

Tears brimmed in Bilbo’s eyes and he felt as though he was seconds from death.

“You betrayed me for a whore! You gave away my precious heirloom to the enemy all in the name of one whom would rather betray your feelings than die honorably!” Thorin explained with a hiss, “For I claimed her just as easily as you did!”

Bilbo yelped when Thorin, in one strong swing, tossed the hobbit away from him; sending Bilbo to land hard on his back with a cry of pain.

“Get out!” Thorin ordered as Fili and Kili rushed over to help Bilbo to his feet, “Get out of my mountain! Go and find your charred lover in the ruins of that filthy town! GO!”

“You,” Bilbo coughed, fighting against the pull of Thorin’s nephews, “You…you’re the reason she…you humiliated her!”

Sneering, Thorin looked Bilbo up and down, and then coldly remarked: “She humiliated herself…I only reminded her what her true place was!”

“You monster!” Bilbo rasped just as Fili and Kili began to drag him away, “You mad king!”

“Get out!” Thorin bellowed, “Get out and may we never meet again Bilbo Baggins of the Shire! I only wish I could say the same to that meddling fool of a wizard for he is the reason I had the misfortune of meeting you in the first place!”

“If fate deems it so, you will have ample opportunity to berate me for the wrong you believe I’ve done you,” Announced a familiar voice from the archway that the kings nephews had been struggling to get to with the enraged hobbit.

“For now,” Gandalf the Grey explained dryly, “You would do well to prepare yourself and your Warriors-King Thorin-for a very dangerous threat is moving against you even as we speak!”

Fili and Kili let go of Bilbo and, after letting Gandalf pass, hurried after the wizard as he came to stand before Thorin and Balin to give his report.

“Is it true,” asked a small voice, “Is it true that Bofur has survived?”

Bilbo, rubbing his aching throat, looked at Bombur and nodded slowly.

“Before Smaug...Bard said she asked to be taken back to where He first found us,” Bilbo explained, “But he knows no more than that.”

Bombur patted Bilbo’s shoulder and offered a grateful smile as he said: “At least we know that! I’m sure we will see her soon!”

Bilbo said nothing, his eyes only glaring at the crowned dwarf that stood debating with the tall wizard, and he couldn’t help but doubt Bombur’s optimism then.  
***************************************************************************************************************************** The great wolfhound had caught the scent immediately. 

Lifting its giant muzzle it smelled the air, twitched its massive ears, and grunted in great curiosity.

‘Dwarf,’ it thought, ‘but this one smells pretty!’

As intoxicating as her scent was the hound hesitated as it stared at the wall of trees that spread out in front of him, Mirkwood, even the new smell didn’t dampen the rot that flooded the beasts nostrils.

‘But still,’ The beast wondered, ‘how came the scent of dwarf back in these parts? Master Said they were sent off days ago and I remember how they’d stunk…this one is different.’

What was more enticing, the hound whimpered under his breath, was the fact that the smell was strong, very close.

‘Not too far in,’ The hound determined, ‘But not far enough out!’

Master had gone, having decided to follow the wizard’s trail, and he’d ordered his lot to stay safe in his stronghold.

He’d already disobeyed, feeling the call of the dark night, and that’s how he’d happened upon this curious sent.

“Help!”

The hound tensed for a moment and took a very small step back, his ears prickling, and he listened more intently.

“Please…any body…please help!”

The hound inclined his head as he realized that the voice in the distance sounded oddly familiar, but this time it was weak and sickly.

Whimpering, pacing back and fourth with uncertainty, the hound concluded:

“Just a look…doesn’t hurt to have just one little look!”

With that, smelling the air once more, the massive hound bounded off in the direction of the desperate voice in the darkened distance.  
****************************************************************************************************************************“Forgive me, if she lives, I ask that you…t-tell her that I am sorry. I had no right even as a king!”

Bilbo, exhausted and injured, only nodded his promise and squeezed Thorin’s hand. 

He would tell Bofur, if he ever found her, that Thorin had sought to make peace with her over his shocking violation of her.

But as for himself, even if Thorin now lay dying, the hobbit wondered if he would ever be able to fully forgive the dwarf for taking such a splendid creature from his arms.

He could forgive Thorin of many things, that was true, but as far as she was concerned…

Thorin spoke his last words and Bilbo departed, his mind only envisioning her, while He sought out her kin that had thankfully survived such a harrowing ordeal.

He found them, huddled together, With Bombur’s good arm draped over Bifur’s shoulders, and his other arm resting in a sling.

“Bombur,” Bilbo started when he saw the blood that seeped through the bandages of his wounded arm, yet the large dwarf only smiled faintly and said:

“Nothing really, I’ll live, how is Thorin?”

Bilbo’s mouth opened, he started to speak, but found he could only offer a slow shake of his head.

Bifur whimpered and placed his head in his hands while Bombur sighed deeply and looked up into the sky.  


“When it’s all said an done,” Bilbo asked gently, “What will the two of you do?”

Bombur shrugged limply, hugged his kinsman about his shoulders, and confessed: “What was always our plan…. Stay here and help rebuild the kingdom and, when we’re certain enough, send for our families.”

“What about Bofur?” Bilbo asked, “Will you try to find her?”

“We will hope that she will find a way back to us,” Bombur explained without meeting the hobbits gaze, “Bifur and I have already discussed it. She can’t be planning to go too far with no money and no food so, hopefully, She’ll come back when she’s ready.”

“But…sh-she’s your sister!” Bilbo gasped as Bifur looked up from his hands and growled, “I would think that she would be more important than~”

“Bilbo,” Bombur sighed as he struggled to keep his growling cousin seated, “It was always the idea…we can only hope that Bofur will find her way back to us. If she managed to slip by all those filthy creatures that is and We can’t just leave now…it would be wrong.”

In total shock, Bilbo eyed Bofur’s family one more time, before turning and stomping off.  
****************************************************************************************************************************  
She felt herself lifting through a haze of confusion and fear.

Moaning, she struggled to sit up, but found she’d no strength and thudded back onto the bed.

‘Bed?’ Bofur wondered when her mind began to clear, ‘But…I was in Mirkwood…tha’s the last I recall.”

“You’re alright,” Said an unfamiliar voice, “We got the poison from the bad spider out…the bees did with their honey, but you must rest now! Master will be back soon!”

“M-master?” Bofur muttered as she tried to open her eyes, “Who is...Master?”

“Your friend!” The voice said reassuringly, “Rest now, little dwarf, you are safe.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bofur wakes up under the care of the skin-changer only to learn of the BOTFA and who was lost and whom still remains.
> 
> (I drop a hint here...try and catch it)

“Here, sit up, you must take this…it will keep your fever down!”

Bofur groaned as an arm slipped under her shoulders and pulled her into a sitting up position.

“Ach! What a smell!” She rasped as she turned her head sharply, “Get it away!”

Still, as she managed to finally open her eyes, She felt the hard edge the bowl press against her lips.  


“Were I to do that, Bofur, your fever would increase and you would die. Drink.”

It took her only a moment to put the voice with the fuzzy face of the one whom held her and helped her drink the stinking remedy.

“B-Beorn?” Bofur asked after he’d taken the bowl from her mouth, “How…where am I?”

“Where you were before,” Beorn explained as he helped the dwarf to sit up on the pile of hay and blankets she’d been recovering on for the past four days, “In my home…only this time you were invited, well, in a way.”

After he was sure Bofur could hold her self up, the skin-changer rose and went over to a massive table.

“How…How did I come to be here though?” Bofur asked in a weak voice, “It’s all so confusing…there was a spider~”

“It stung you,” Beorn explained as he began crushing something in a bowl with a smoothed stone, “Yulock told me that you did manage to hit the creature in a delicate spot with your blade but it was still struggling to live when he came upon the both of you. The spider is dead now and you will survive...you are very lucky.”

“Yulock?” Bofur asked, suddenly realizing her shirt was gone and that her upper body was bound only in soft bandages.

“I am Yulock!” Confirmed a jovial voice. 

The wolfhound approached and Bofur hissed in her breath and scurried back against the wall at the sight of the massive creature, “I took you out of the forest and brought you here!” 

“Do not be afraid,” Beorn urged as he completed his task, “Yulock is a trusted friend, and if it helps, he likes you.”

Gulping loudly, Bofur nodded her head at the hound that observed her with bright eyes; “Please to meet ye-eh-thank ye fer helping me!”

Yulock whined pleasantly and stretched his legs as if overcome by joy; the black and white creature then, obeying Beorn's order, pranced happily outside into the early evening without another word.

“He says you smell better than any other dwarf he has ever smelled,” Beorn was saying as he came to stand before Bofur, “At first I thought he was wrong, I met you after all, but that was in a crowd of stinking and unwashed dwarves.”

Bofur smirked up at the skin changer, unsure if He was teasing or insulting, and she at last asked:

“Where’s me shirt? I feel practically naked with just the rags wound about me!”

“Ruined,” Beorn explained as he kneeled down, “But I’m working on getting you some new clothes. For now, we must undo these rags of yours.”

“Why?” Bofur demanded as she slapped Beorn’s free hand away, “I’m perfectly alright!”

“Your wound has not yet closed,” Beorn explained patiently, “You’ve nothing to fear.”

“But…” Bofur argued, “Can I…may I do it my self?”

Beorn chuckled and shook his head; “Don’t worry…I don’t care that you are female.”

Bofur snorted, allowing Beorn to unwind her bandages, and then said: “Well…yer the first not to be disturbed by my secret.”

“As I said there was an odd scent among your group when we first met,” Beorn explained as he exposed the deep wound of Bofur’s shoulder, “Now I see it was you whom carried such a pleasant aroma…though it seems to be changing.”

“Mahal!” Bofur gasped when she saw the small, seeping hole in her shoulder, “Is it infected?”

“It was,” Beorn corrected as He began spreading the newly made salve over the wound, causing Bofur to flinch.

“I think after a few more days it should be completely free of any ill…the hole will take some time to close however.”

“Well…as soon as the infection is cleared I’ll be on my way,” Bofur hissed through gritted teeth, “I don’t want to be a bother to ye any more than I ‘ave to be!”

Beorn hummed after finishing his task and helped Bofur re-bandage her shoulder.

“Back to Erebor?” He asked, as he rose with the empty bowl in one hand, “After their burials it was decided that Erebor was to be rebuilt to its previous splendor under its new King.”

Bofur jolted and gasped as she looked up at the skin changer with great fear.

“B-burials?” She stammered, “Who died? Tell me…tell me it wasn’t the hobbit or any of my kin!”

Beorn sighed and shook his head, Bofur felt tears stinging at her eyes, and her care giver stated sadly: “The line of Durin is no more…all three were slain in the battle.”

“Between the elves?” Bofur asked, and Beorn turned and went back tot he massive table, “I saw the soldier’s going to Esgorath!”

“They fought together, believe it or not,” the skin-changer corrected, “Both armies fought along with the men of Lake Town. I fought with them too…beating and killing as many Orcs and Goblins as I could. We were victorious…but not without great loss.”

Tears slid down Bofur’s face and she bowed her head.

Her memory then recalled old memories of Thoirn's nephews and how she’d often played and visited with them whenever they came into Bifur’s toyshop when they were still precocious Dwarrow’s.

“The hobbit,” Beorn added softly, “He lives. I am told that He worries greatly for you…that his love for you nearly cost him his life at the hands of Thorin himself.”

Wiping her nose with back of her hand, Bofur snickered and remarked, “It would be best fer him if he forgot a bout me!”

“Will You not go to him?” Beorn asked as he began to straighten up his massive domicile, “It was clear to many that fears greatly for you, not knowing where you are! and such a devotion...should always be returned for it is very rare in this world!”

“Oh…I cannot go back,” Bofur mumbled, “I’ve shamed my self…and betrayed all o’ them that care fer me.”

“You would leave them to grieve for you forever?” Beorn asked, unable to his disbelieving tone, “that is a very cruel thing to do!”

Bofur’s shoulders shook, and Beorn saw that she wept quietly, and then at last Bofur confessed in a trembling voice:

“I would save them form sharing in my unforgivable shame.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter will be of Bilbo's POV (gonna break it up into two parts...one where he lingers in Erebor and then journey's to Beorn's to celebrate Yule)


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo and Bombur talk.
> 
> Bofur is putting distance between her self and those she loves...all the while trying to put up with annoying Wolfhound.

“You still up then, Bilbo?”

Bilbo looked over as Bombur approached, a bowl of stew in one hand, and he nodded.

“Oh,” The hobbit sighed, “Thank you but I’m not hungry!”

“This isn’t for you! This is mine!” Bofur laughed as He came to sit next to the hobbit; “I always have myself a late night snack! Especially since me wife and lil ones will be here soon! I’m overcome with joy!”

Bilbo smiled weakly then, resting his chin in the palm of his hand as he thought, and he observed the torch lit city of Erebor before him.

“It’s amazing,” He confessed after a moment, “How much more improved this place looks after only four weeks!”

“Aye!” Bombur agreed through a spoonful of stew, “When we dwarves get to work…we accomplish what some would say were miracles!”

“I hope so, for one more miracle I mean!” Bilbo answered sharply, then instantly regretted what he had said, because he saw the sadness envelope Bombur’s otherwise cheerful face.

“Eh-s-sorry…Bombur, truly, I’m sorry!”

“No,” Bombur offered with a waved of his chubby hand, “I understand…I too was hoping Sela would have sent…something to us by now.”

Bilbo remembered then that, not long after Thorin and Kin had been laid to rest in an extravagant ceremony, Bombur had gotten permission from the newly crowned Dain Ironfoot to use a Raven to send word to his wife and children awaiting word from him in Ered Luin.

In the message He’d requested his beloved wife send him any news of his sibling, hopefully, suddenly showing up in their homeland.

“Bombur?” Bilbo asked, causing the chunky dwarf to look up from his nearly empty bowl, “May I ask you something?”

Bombur nodded slowly secretly amused that the hobbit had yet to accept that those who’d befriended him on the quest, felt completely at ease sharing their secrets with him.

“Why…you heard what Thorin said…I don’t understand why Bofur would feel…ashamed of something that was not at all her fault!”

Bombur sighed, finished his late night meal, and as he set the bowl aside explained:

“It might seem silly to you, being a hobbit and all, but…I’m guessing Bofur let Thorin-uh-do what he did because she felt it would spare us from any punishment. Growing up, My bro-my sister, always bore the harshest punishments if it meant that Mama and I would be safe.

I don’t know if she told ye…but our Daddy could be cruel if he’d taken too much drink. The slightest thing would set him off and when he’d grab fer his belt or anything else he knew would hurt us…She took the blame and the bruises...it’s how she’s always been.”

“But…why did she run then?” Bilbo demanded as he clenched and unclenched his hairy toes, “Surely…surely she would’ve known you and Bifur would have been supportive of her! I know I would have been!”

“Aye,” Bombur agreed, “That we would have been but…Bilbo…She chose to lower herself rather than accept responsibility and die honorably.”

“I can’t blame her,” Bilbo spat angrily, “I can’t believe Thorin would forgo the fact that she risked her life just as willingly...”

Bilbo shook his head and went silent. Wanting to argue, wanting to point out several crucial points , but he could only sigh and look into the distance.

“I’m sorry,” Bilbo said meekly, “I’m so sorry that…if I hadn’t pursued her like I did none of this would have happened!”

“Oh, you can’t know tha’,” Bombur said soothingly as he patted Bilbo on the back, “She liked ye! I could tell…what with her always sneaking looks and worryin’ about where you were when she couldn’t find ye. Besides…I can’t recall ever seeing her so happy before she met you!”

A few minutes of silence passed between the hobbit and dwarf, just before the call came out that it was time for the changing of the guard, and Bombur cleared his throat and offered softly:

“I aint gave up! She’s out there somewhere and I know she’ll find ‘er way back…I know me Sister Bilbo! She’ll be back!”

At this, the hobbit offered up another weak smile, and said: “I hope it will be soon…for I can’t linger here much longer.”  
*************************************************************************************************************************  
“Oh dear! You are very sick! We should go back to Master!”

Bofur waved a finger at the wolfhound as she wretched once more and when she'd finished, coughing as she did, she declared:

“‘S fine! I just need a moment! I won’t be turnin’ back! I’ve gone too far!”

“But your tummy gives you too much trouble!” Yulock whimpered, his big ears folded back worriedly, “You’ve been sick for the past two days!”

“I’ve been ridin’ on yer back for that long!” Bofur argued, certain her vomiting was done, and she stood up straight and wiped her chin.

“Perhaps I’m just…sickened by the motion.”

“If you ride a pony, and you have, you can ride on my back without getting sick!” Yulock argued with a whine, “We should go back to Master and~”

“Damn ye!” Bofur growled, stamping his foot, “Ye go back home! I’ll go on foot if I must!”

Yulock tucked his tale, whimpered, and took a few steps back from the glaring dwarf.

“Can’t go yet,” Yulock whispered, “I promised to take you as far as I could. Remember? Master told me to take you until we saw a village! You’ve never been this Far West after all.”

It was true, and Bofur sighed, the wolfhound was only following the orders of Beorn and the great beast had been so sweet to her.

Since the start of their travels, Yulock successfully hunted rabbits and other small game for food and dutifully kept her warm and safe at night. 

She was, Bofur knew, merely cranky at her sudden bouts of nausea and was taking it out on the loyal creature that seemed so innocently fascinated by her.

“Sorry,” Bofur offered as she came and gently scratched at one of the hounds large ears, “Just tired and all…but I’m fine Yulock and we must be going…it’ll be dark soon.”

Without another word, Yulock dipped his lower body, and allowed Bofur to climb onto his back and situate herself comfortably before breaking into a smooth enough stride so as to not knock the dwarf from her spot.

“Why west?” Yulock asked after he’d carried the dwarf in silence for awhile, “Have you family there?”

“Oh no,” Bofur chuckled, patting the hounds bouncing shoulder, “None. Tha’s why I chose to head in that direction.”


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yulock is worried for Bofur while, Days after she departed Beorn's, Bilbo learns something startling from the skin changer.

“Oh dear! You are very sick! We should go back to Master!”

Bofur waved a finger at the wolfhound as she wretched once more and, coughing as she finished, declared:

“‘S fine! I just need a moment! I won’t be turnin’ back! I’ve gone too far!”

“But your tummy gives you too much trouble!” Yulock whimpered, his big ears folded back worriedly, “You’ve been sick for the past two days!”

“I’ve been ridin’ on yer back for longer than that!” Bofur argued, certain her vomiting was done, and she stood up straight and wiped her chin.

“Perhaps I’m just…sickened by the motion.”

“If you ride a pony, and you have, you can ride on my back without getting sick!” Yulock argued with a whine, “We should go back to Master and~”

“Damn ye!” Bofur growled, stamping her foot, “Ye go back home! I’ll go on foot if I must!”

Yulock tucked his tale, whimpered, and took a few steps back from the glaring dwarf.

“Can’t go yet,” Yulock whispered, “I promised to take you as far as I could. Remember? Master told me to take you until we saw a village! You’ve never been this Far West after all.”

It was true, and Bofur sighed, the wolfhound was only following the orders of Beorn and the great beast had been so sweet to her.

Since the start of their travels, Yulock successfully hunted rabbits and other small game for food and dutifully kept her warm and safe at night. 

She was, Bofur knew, merely cranky at her sudden bouts of nausea and was taking it out on the loyal creature that seemed so innocently fascinated by her.

“Sorry,” Bofur offered at last as she came and gently scratched at one of the hounds large ears, “Just tired and all…but I’m fine Yulock and we must be going…it’ll be dark soon.”

Without another word, Yulock dipped down, allowing Bofur to climb onto his back and situate herself comfortably, before breaking into a smooth enough stride so as to not knock the dwarf from her spot.

“Why west?” Yulock asked after he’d carried the dwarf in silence for awhile, “Have you family there?”

“Oh no,” Bofur chuckled, patting the hounds bouncing shoulder, “None. Tha’s why I chose to head in that direction.”  
***************************************************************************************************************************  
DAYS LATER:

“HOW COULD YOU NOT SEND US WORD EVEN AFTER SHE’D GONE!? WE’VE BEEN BESIDE OURSELVES WITH WORRY!”

“Bilbo, put it down, don’t you dare throw it!”

“Even if I had, Halfling, what makes you think you would have found her?” Beorn demanded as he watched Gandalf grab the bowl Bilbo was preparing to fling at the skin changer.

“She didn’t even tell me where she was going and it took me some time to convince her to allow Yulock to go with her!”

“You could have sent word while she convelaced here!” Bilbo pointed out hysterically, “One of us would have come to care for her!”

“Bilbo please!” Gandalf urged, “It is Yule! Stay this anger, for now, please!”

Beorn huffed, seeming almost amused at Bilbo’s tantrum, and He pointed out:

“Had I done that and told her when she at last woke from her fever…can you tell me she would’ve have stayed put until you arrived? Can you swear she would have agreed to go with you when she recovered?”

Bilbo whimpered then, dropped his arms and allowed Gandalf to take the bowl from his hands, and then the wizard finally guided him to the dinner table.

“She's out there,” Bilbo sniffled, “All alone!”

“No,” Beorn pointed out as he set a plate of food before the distraught hobbit, “Yulock is with her and will protect her…and when he returns then you will know more. Maybe then you can go to her.”

“I can’ keep putting of Bag End!” Bilbo whined with scoff, “There’s no telling what those idiot relatives of mine are doing now that I’ve been gone so long!”

“Then you can trust that Beorn will send you word when the hound returns,” Gandalf explained as he sat next to Bilbo and began stuffing his pipe, “Am I correct, Master Beorn?”

Beorn nodded and began pouring warm cider for each them as he said: “Of course, if she is in the way I think she is, it would be wrong to remain silent of her whereabouts.”

“What do you mean?” Bilbo demanded, his cheeks flaring in anger, “You mean…you let her go when she wasn’t completely healed from the spider bite?”

Beorn looked at Gandalf, and the old wizard only nodded, and then he met Bilbo’s worried glance and explained:

“No. The wound she sustained will take time to close but there is no danger left where the spider bite is concerned…the dwarf woman’s scent was changing because...I suspect she carries a little one in her womb.”

Bilbo balked, while Gandalf bowed his head in thought, and Beorn merely went and turned the roasting goose on a spit without another word.

“Oh my…she’s…but I don’t understand….did she know?”

“Even for her it was too soon to know,” Beorn explained, “and like I said, I cannot be sure. But…given how long it has been, I imagine, even she is beginning to suspect.”

“Oh…poor Bofur,” Bilbo sighed, secretly wishing for nothing but misery for Thorin in the after life, and cursing Nori for his selfishness.

“Be of strong resolve Bilbo,” Gandalf urged softly, “Bofur is strong and stubborn-as many dwarves are-this might be what brings her back to you.”

“She’s carrying a child of rape inside of her,” Bilbo moaned, “Why in the world would that bring her back to me? Why would she even consider returning to Erebor?”

At this the wizard only smirked and continued to smoke his pipe in silence.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bofur and Yulock are reunited with an eccentric fellow who makes a startling discovery.

Poor Yulock.

Bofur examined the simpering hound’s massive paw, trying to see past the mass of fur and slowly seeping blood, and determined what had injured the gentle creature.

“It stings!” Yulock complained, pulling the paw away from the exhausted dwarf, and preceding to lick at his wound.

“You must ‘ave picked something up,” Bofur explained with a sigh, “Ye gotta let me try and get it our fer ye!”

“I don’t like it here in these woods,” Yulock whimpered, “It smells terrible!”

Bofur smirked and waited until Yulock extended his paw to her once more; it was true, though she was no grand animal with an uncanny sense of smell, the stench of the wood surrounding them was enough to also cause the dwarf’s already uneasy stomach to churn violently.

“Let’s get this out o’ yer paw and then we’ll be on our way,” Bofur offered when she finally felt the edge of the implement that had pierced the hounds paw, “I can pull it out…but ye must remain still, do ye understand?”

Instead of replying, Yulock’s ears twitched, he jerked his large head up, and he emitted a dangerous growl.

“What?” Bofur demanded, “Don’t tell me it’s another squirrel? Ye almost tossed me to the ground the first time ye heard one!”

Her answer came when there was great crunching and crashing sound before them; with a cry of fright, Bofur scrambled over Yulock and hid behind the animal’s back, while the hound himself bared his fangs and offered another threatening growl.

“Easy now!” A cheery, familiar voice greeted, “I mean you no harm, dear friend, though I am curious to know how and why you've came to these woods!”

Bofur, only her eyes and hat visible from where she crouched behind Yulock, swallowed and answered: “I’m headed west…Mr. Radagast.”

“Why hello-eh-Before, is it? I didn’t see you there! I was speaking to this remarkable creature that is guarding you so loyally!”

Standing to her full height, waiting until she sensed Yulock completely relax, Bofur offered a curt bow and answered: “It’s Bofur, sir, and Yulock is only…guiding me to the nearest village.”

Radagast removed his hat and, to Bofur’s growing nausea, released the small birds nested in his hair.

“I see,” He mused after he'd bowed and dismounted his rabbit led sled, “Quite uncommon for dwarves to travel alone…and the way I understood it was that females never travel!”

Bofur scoffed, unable to stop her nervous smile, and she asked with a chuckle: “You knew?”

“Of course!” Radagast explained as he stabbed his staff into the earth, “We don’t fall prey to deceptions easily after all! Now…what seems to be the problem?”

Bofur, still in a daze from the wizards revelation, scratched at her bearded chin and answered: “Yulock picked up…I dunno…a thorn or somethin’. I’d begun to take it out just as you arrived.”

“It a very good thing you didn’t!” Radagast chided as he examined the hounds wounded paw, “It would have worsened the wound! You stepped on a poisoned branch! Pulling it out, my friend, would hasten your demise!”

“Branch?” Bofur asked with a sneer as Yulock whimpered his despair, “I’ve never heard of a poisonous tree before!”

“This whole forest is poisoned,” Radagast explained with a sigh, and Bofur recalled the eccentric wizard’s words the first time She’d met him.

“Come, I’ll take you to my home, there I have just the right remedy for your wound Yulock! Oh…and you may join us if you wish Miss Bofur!”

“Uh…” Bofur started, and for the first time she smiled in amusement, “Alright. Thank…uh-I mean-Thank…URK!”

Turning, Bofur emptied the contents of her stomach, dry heaved for a moment or two, and when she'd wiped her mouth and turned around, she found Radagast was observing her with great curiosity.

“Think I’ve a bug,” Bofur explained apologetically, “Been doin tha’ fer some time now!”

“Indeed,” Radagast mused after a moment and he turned and began to walk away, “Come, you can ride with me Bofur…I’m sure I can find something for you too.”  
*****************************************************************************************************************************  
Back in his odd and filthy little home. Bofur was almost too afraid to sit down in the chair Radagast had offered her.

The place looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned for decades!

‘If it’s ever been cleaned!’ Bofur thought as she at last sat and patiently watched Radagast running about and gathering several dried herbs and small flasks.

Yulock had been instructed to wait out side and the great wolfhound had obeyed without argument.

“Here you are!” Radagast declared, coming to the fatigued dwarf, “A nice flower extract! Good tasting and Good for your queasiness and baby!”

Bofur balked, her fingers stopping just short of taking the tiny flask, and she found she lost her voice for a moment.

“Baby?” She asked at last, and Radagast looked quite perplexed, “I…I am havin’ no baby!”

“But you are!” Radagast chuckled cheerfully, “A cute little baby with cute little fingers and toes! I recognized it instantly-your condition I mean-oh! how excited you must be!"”

“But…” Bofur gasped, “I can’t…it can’t be!”

“It is!” Radagast declared happily, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and see to Yulock!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Radagast seemed pretty cool to me in the films so I decided to include him in this fic (as a surprise for y'all) and I also envision him as, since he's an animal lover, having a soft spot for childre


	19. Chapter Ninteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In shock that she is pregnant, Bofur breaks down in front of Radagast and makes stunning request...but, after she takes the wizards advice, Bofur rethinks her options.

“I couldn’t possibly…Ye ‘ave already done so much!”

“Pish-Posh,” Radagast quipped, fluffing a dusty pillow, “A bed is best for you given your state! I’ve let my hedgehogs sleep here while they prepared for their little ones.”

‘Mahal,’ Bofur mused as she yawned, ‘Is he really comparing me to a tiny rodent?!’

“Oh!” Radagast squeaked as he reached into his robes, “Here, you should take this, I promise it will help with your nausea and keep your baby strong!”

Bofur pressed his lips together as she eyed the tiny flask, Radagast’s brow furrowed, and at last the dwarf confessed:

“I don’t wish to keep my baby strong…I don’t…I don’t even want it in me!”

Radagast’s hand dropped, and he observed the dwarf with a look of both pity and shock, before he at last asked:

“But why? I’ve been led to understand that the race of dwarves is dwindling down…not to mention I’ve heard tales of great love and devotion on the parts of Dwarvish Mother’s!”

“I…” Bofur started, and without full understanding as to her own demeanor, Bofur let out a great wail and dropped to her knees.

Radagast was kneeling in front of her then, pleading for peace and rubbing the hysterical dwarf’s back, urging Bofur to stand back up.

“I-I-I can’t!” Bofur choked out as her hat fell from head and hot tears saturated her face, “I can’t…I’ve a Mad King’s child growin’ in me and-and I can’t…I just can’t!”

“Mad King?” Radagast asked in a soft tone, “What on earth are you going on about, Bofur? Tell me…what is all this pain in a time when you should be most happy?”

After several moments of body wracking sobs, and a wizard’s futile attempts to calm her, Bofur at last looked up and focused her red stained eyes upon Radagast and said: “I’ll tell ye…but first ye must promise to help me get it out!”  


Radagast huffed, studied the dwarf’s desperate eyes for a moment, and then finally demanded: 

“Tell me everything.”  
****************************************************************************************************************************  
“So ye see…I can not possibly have the babe…even if I really wanted too! If word gets out…the baby will be ripped from my arms or…or go mad like its father! I wouldn’t want that for any child!”

Radagast, having sat and listened to Bofur recount her amazingly sad tale, turned his staff in his fingers as he thought.

He then looked and observed Bofur cradle and stroke a concerned hedgehog that had climbed into her lap earlier that evening.

“Could you not…seek refuge with the hobbit?” Radagast inquired delicately, “The way it sounds…he cares for you greatly!”

“I told him to leave me be,” Bofur sighed, wiping a rogue tear away with a free hand, “I…dishonored my self when…when I went to bed with Thorin. If I were to go to ‘im now…I’d be askin’ Bilbo to bear that shame with me!”

“Perhaps he would end your shame,” Radagast argued, “Hobbits are not dwarves!”

“But I am one through and through!” Bofur whined in a tight voice, “I’ve lived a lie, betrayed my King, and I was coward and did what I had to do to spare me own neck without regard as to how it would affect those that I love!”

“Some would say you weren’t weak at all,” Radagast pointed out as he rose from the bed with a sigh, “It must have taken great strength for so many years to do what you did…and even more so to pay such a high price.”

Bofur, setting the hedgehog gently on the floor, shrugged as she slumped in her chair.

After a tense silence, both of them listening to the gentle song of the crickets outside, Radagast at last offered:

“Give it a night. Just one night of real rest and thought and, if still in the morning you still wish to be relieved of the child growing inside of you, I will do my best to help you. 

Please…take up the bed I’ve prepared, I’ve no problem sleeping in a chair for I’ve sat up many nights with sickly animals.” 

Bofur offered a soft smile to Radagast and rose from the chair; “Thank you,” She said as she removed her hat, “Thank you so much.”  
*****************************************************************************************************************************  
All was quiet, save for Radagast’s soft snoring and intermittent muffled grunts, and Bofur rolled onto her side as her mind struggled with a great many things.

Dawn was coming and she’d hardly slept; when she did manage to doze for a few precious moments, she was assaulted with odd and disturbing dreams.

The plan, one that Bofur had quickly formed the day she'd fled Esgaroth, had been to take up work and residence in the first village she’d come across on her journey.

Now, as she lay wondering if Her baby could sense her distress, she knew that was all ruined.

There was no way she could go on successfully, as she had for many years, deceiving all those she came into contact with.

Who would employ an unmarried female dwarf that was pregnant?

What was more, and tears burned at Bofur’s tired eyes, how would she be able to provide for it?

What was she to do now?

She couldn’t possibly turn back, to find security with her beloved brother and cousin, for it would be the same for them as it would be for Bilbo.

‘Imagine it,’ Bofur thought with a sigh, ‘All o’ them havin’ to bear my sins…and with a bastard baby in tow too!’

Bofur flinched and pulled the blanket closer to her curled body.

Involuntarily, she recalled, how the heir of Durin had pushed her onto the bed, how his beard had scraped roughly against her cheek, and how he’d finally yanked her to her feet and ordered her back to her own room when it was all said and done.

“Know that you have been shown mercy this night,” Thorin had explained after her, “It was either this…or the collection of your head!”

Mercy?

The word caused an odd stirring then, and Bofur found her hand ventured under her baggy shirt, finding purchase on her flat belly.

She thought of her deceased mother and all the late night, precious conversations they'd had about the future and about how exciting it would be when Bofur would bear her own children one day.

That day had come, indeed it had, but what advice would her mother give to her now?

What would she think of such a child?

Bofur pressed gently, wondering if the baby could move yet, and she sighed when she acknowledged:

“The baby is half o’ me and a descendant of my own kin so…oh Ma! I wish ye were here now!”

She watched out of a near by window as the sun rose, announcing the beginning of a new day, and the dwarf took a deep and relaxing breath as she knew she would now be able to sleep pleasantly.

“Perhaps it’s what is best,” She whispered at last as she yawned, “At least I won’t be on my own fer the rest of my days.”

Bofur removed her hand from her belly and rolled onto her opposing side; her mind made up.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo still longs for Bofur just as the dwarf goes into labor.

MONTHS LATER:

Gandalf the grey was worried for his dear friend.

None but he, being the wizard that he was, could sense the deep despair that Bilbo Baggins was in.

Months had passed. There had been no word from Bombur and, when Bilbo became desperate enough, Nori replied to his frantic letter by informing the halfling that he hadn’t been successful in his own attempts to locate Bofur either.

As he spied the hobbit, sitting alone on the bench outside the front door of Bag End, Gandalf sighed and wished there was something more he could do to lessen Bilbo’s heavy heart.

Bilbo had asserted over and over again that Bofur was not dead and, Gandalf wondered, if he was the only one refusing to entertain such a depressing possibility.

The wilds of middle earth were indeed very treacherous and, being only a merchant, Bofur didn’t seem to be one that was well versed in the art of surviving the unknown wilds of the world.

‘Dear Bilbo,’ Gandalf thought, ‘Can you not reconcile with the fact that She loved you as you loved her?’

Of course Gandalf knew why the hobbit clung so blindly to such an unsupported hope, though he dared not to bring it up, and he accepted that Bilbo would come to his own peace in his own time.

Just then, Bilbo rose and stretched, and Gandalf took himself from the window and into the den.

It was near supper time and the hobbit, of course, was a timely fellow.

‘I wonder,’ Gandalf mused as he sat in a chair and heard the front door open, ‘If perhaps he begins the evening meal in this way…expecting Bofur to arrive at such a time, any day now?’

Gandalf again decided not to ask the hobbit as to whether or not his assumption was correct.

Because He didn’t desire to see or hear Bilbo, his closest friend in Middle Earth, weep again.  
**************************************************************************************************************************  
“’ere ye go, piglet, though I can’t assure ye that Radagast will fergive ye fer eating so much again!”

The very fat hedgehog happily took the bit of bread Bofur offered him as he sat upon her shoulder, and squeaked his thanks as the dwarf continued to slice the fresh bread, just before tapping his moist little nose to the dwarves cheek.

“Ick!” Bofur taunted, “Ye know I don’t care fer the kisses of a rodent!”

Bofur stilled her chore then, setting down the bread knife and bringing her hands to rest on her swollen belly, uttering a nervous chuckle as she did.

“Active today,” She explained to the hedgehog whom stared nervously at Her, “Been doing cart wheels and back flips all morning!”

Though Bofur herself was beginning to wonder; in the entire time she’d dwelled with Radagast, her pregnancy going well and with no sign of trouble, her baby had never bounced around inside of her as much as it seemed to be doing so at that very moment.

She was near her delivery day and she was prepared for what that meant, but since Radagast was out tending to the flora and fauna of the forest, there was a small fear that dwelled in the dwarf’s heart each time she was left alone. 

A small sparrow chirped above Bofur then, and she turned her attention to the boiling pot in the fireplace, realizing that she’d let her mind wander too far.

“Yes, yes!” Bofur sighed as she waddled over to the fire place, “I won’t burn the soup this time!”

Lifting the lid off of the pot and stirring the contents with a ladle, Bofur chuckled, when the hedgehog nuzzled her cheek lovingly.

“Anything fer a morsel, eh?” She asked as she finished stirring the soup and, replacing the lid with a loud clang, Bofur explained: “First things first! We set the table!”

As her fingers grasped the soup bowls on the top shelf of the hutch near the fireplace, she gasped, and looked down.

The popping sensation was followed by a gush of warm water the dwarf couldn’t stop and, as she stood stunned, the birds inside the house began to chirp and fly around frantically while the hedgehog upon Bofur’s shoulder squeaked and squeaked.

“Mahal!” Bofur yelped, “It’s time!”  
******************************************************************************************************************************  
“Do you think she’s had the baby by now?”

Gandalf, as always, exercised the utmost patience with the hobbit when he’d begun to wonder about the long lost dwarf.

“Perhaps,” Gandalf answered at last, “Enough time has passed. Let us hope, if she has, that the birth was a successful one.”

“Yes,” Bilbo sighed as he rose and began to clear the table, “that’s about all we can do I imagine…though…I wonder if it was a boy or girl and what Bofur’s next move will be after she’s recovered from the birth.”

“Who knows,” Gandalf answered, careful not to deepen the hobbit’s grief nor give his friend any false hope, “That is solely up to Bofur!”

Bilbo, balancing a stack of plates in one hand, picked up the large salad bowl in his other hand as he remarked: “A wonderful mother, I think, I think that’s exactly what Bofur would be!”

At this Gandalf nodded and replied: “One can only hope.”  
***************************************************************************************************************************

"Ach! FUCK ME IT'S TRYIN' TO KILL ME!"

Bofur, drenched in sweat and clawing at the bed sheets, whined sharply and through gritted teeth before gasping in pain.

Radagast, having been alerted to the dwarf’s situation, had rushed home and had been by Bofur’s side ever since.

The dwarf woman’s labor, as it was with all dwarves, had progressed rapidly.

Radagast knew the child would come soon enough. Though, and he couldn’t help but smile as he thought, it wouldn’t be soon enough for the tormented dwarf that yelped as she was assaulted by another contraction.

Rubbing a mint smelling, red paste on Bofur’s swollen belly, the old friend of Gandalf explained: “Your pain will lesson in a moment. Just breath Bofur, breath, you’re doing very well.” 

“I…I’ve never known such pain!” Bofur whimpered, “When will it end?”

With the question in mind, Radagast stood and parted the dwarf’s tensed up knees, and after a moment he answered: “Not long…very soon.”

Bofur relaxed with a grateful sigh, the herbal based salve beginning to take affect, and Radagast took the opurtunity to give Bofur a drink of cool water.

“If…I-if I don’t make it,” Bofur stammered as Radagast set the cup aside and began wiping her brow with a wet cloth, “I…could ye…see to it that my baby…make sure to get it safely to Ered Luin! It cannot be raised in Erebor!”

“Hush!” Radagast ordered dipping the cloth in a bowl of water, “you’ll be fine! You’re in the care of a great wizard after all!”

Even so, and Bofur moaned when she felt the slight sting of another contraction, She knew the risk was very great.

Dwarven labor was fast but tremendously difficult. 

She herself had lost three relatives because of it, and their babies too, had perished.

Bofur gulped then, thinking of Bilbo, and She realized that she desperately wished him there with her.

Back in Esgaroth she’d discovered that his arms, only his arms, were truly the ones that made her feel secure against all the dangers of the world.

Sniffling, Bofur shook her head, ‘Stop,’ She scolded her self, ‘Ye need to think only of yer baby fer now.’

Yet, as the afternoon gave way to twilight, in the end Bofur found herself calling out the hobbit’s name.  
***************************************************************************************************************************  
Something was different, on this night where the full moon shined down her benevolence upon the Shire.

Bilbo was restless, feeling as though he had some great task to under take, but he had no idea what it was.  
Gandalf had retired some hours before, leaving the hobbit to sit up alone, unable to quell his odd anxiety.

“Bofur,” He whispered, feeling the pang in his heart so strongly that he bit back a sob as he sat in his darkened den, “I’m with you, wherever you are, I’m there with you and I’m holding you close.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought it would be cute to write a chapter in which Bilbo and Bofur seem to sense each others need for one another.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Bofur gives birth an astonishing and happy discovery is made.
> 
> Yet, a few months later, the dwarf knows she must make a difficult decision.

“Bofur? Bofur wake up, there’s someone that wants to meet you!”

Bofur groaned, welcomed the cool cloth that found its way upon her forehead, and she struggled for a moment or two before opening her eyes.

“Radagast?” She said hoarsely, “What happened?”

“You fainted,” The old wizard explained after removing the damp cloth and rising, “You’ve been out for a while now! But, now that you’re awake, are you ready to meet your little one?”

Bofur gasped, her eyes widened, and she sat up while wildly looking around.

“Where?” She demanded, “Why doesn’t it cry?”

“She,” Radagast explained with a cheerful tone, “Is sleeping off her meal of warm goats milk. But, I’m sure she’s more than ready to have you hold her, my arms not being her mother’s after all!”

Bofur watched with an elated heart as Radagast lifted the tiny bundle from the homemade bassinet and gingerly begin to bring her the infant.

“Rather odd,” Radagast remarked with smile, “I never thought I’d see the day when a dwarf and elf would set aside their differences and create such an adorable little jewel!”

Bofur furrowed her brow yet said nothing as at last, with a soft laugh of overwhelming joy, she took her baby into her arms.

But Radagast’s words instantly made sense to her when she beheld the sleeping babe.

“Oh,” Bofur breathed as tears filled her eyes, “Oh…blessed Mahal…thank ye! Oh thank ye my lord thank ye!”

The infant woke peacefully then, her father’s eyes finding Bofur’s own, and she gurgled; one free, little hand swiped at her pointed ear just before she offered a yawn.

“What shall you call her, then?” Radagast queried, “It has to be fine name for such a fine little baby!”

Bofur sniffled, kissed the infant’s sweet smelling brow, and thought for a moment.

She was convinced, from the very hard beginning, that the child was to be full Khuzud and so had chosen both a Dwarven boy and girls name months ago in preparation.

Now, and Bofur laughed when her daughter cooed, she had to come up with something that would honor the child’s true and obvious father.

“Bella…Belladonna,” Bofur whispered at last through happy tears, “After Bilbo’s own mother.”

“Bilbo?” Radagast gasped, “I would have never thought he’d have it in him!”  
*****************************************************************************************************************************  
“Bless me! Ye certainly are a rude little piglet!” 

But Bofur smiled when she delivered her insult to the curious hedgehog that observed her as she sat in the rocking chair nursing baby Belladonna.

The ‘hoarf’ as Radagast had come to teasingly call her, opened her eyes and met her mother’s gaze, a smile prickling at the edges of the two-month-olds busy mouth.

Smoothing Belladonna’s golden curls with her free hand, shifting in her seat, Bofur found herself thinking of the child’s father.

What was Bilbo like now?

What would he think about Bofur now and, of course, what would he think of his daughter?

Bofur shuddered, the baby squirmed and whimpered, yet still she couldn’t help but ask her self her least favorite question.

Had he…moved on with another?

Bofur cleared her throat, unlatched the baby from her breast, and gently placed Belladonna against her shoulder as she rocked.

These questions had plagued her ever since she’d given birth to their.

The dwarf knew she’d have to face Bilbo sooner or later; it was his right, after all, as Belladonna’s father to know that he was just that!

‘But what if he’s angry?’ Bofur wondered as she patted the baby’s back, ‘What if he’s so angry he turns us away?’

Belladonna emitted a little belch, followed by a pleased hum, and Bofur carefully rose to her feet.

“Can’t be helped baby,” She said to her a daughter as she began to walk around, “We’ve gotta face yer Daddy sooner or later!”

What of dear old Radagast and his menagerie of helpful, albeit frustrating, creatures?

In the time she’d dwelled with odd wizard Bofur had to admit that she’d grown fond of him and the animals that so loyally served him as he did them.

‘And he's grown fond of me,’ Bofur told her self, for it was true.

Order had come into the wizard’s home, as well as much need cleanliness and good food.

‘Poor thing survived on mushrooms and moss ‘fore we came along,’ Bofur told her self as she continued to try and lull the baby to sleep, ‘that…and he is rather fond of Baby Bella…oh…no matter what I do someone’s going to have some heart ache!’

“Well,” Bofur sighed at last and held her daughter securely above her head, “What do you think we should do darlin’? You’ve a say in this o’course!”

Belladonna giggled and kicked her feet and waved her hands, an adorable grin spreading across her toothless face.

“I thought you’d say that,” Bofur said softly as she brought the baby back to her shoulder, “Well…I’ll ‘ave to trust yer judgement!”


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two More Chapter's to go!

“But…it is a very long journey…possibly treacherous and I cannot just abandon these woods and creatures and, besides, winter is near!”

Bofur knew she would have to deal with Radagast’s reluctance, his heartache but it was easy to be patient with the old wizard considering her own fondness for him as well as her eternal gratitude.

“Ye said, durin’ the time I considered rooting my baby out that perhaps Bilbo would welcome Me and the child into his home because of his love fer me…I must find out if that is so. For the sake of Belladonna and my own peace of mind.”

“You not capable of trekking into the wilds on your,” Radagast sighed, “I would have to go with you to ensure Bella’s safety…and your own…my dear friends here in the wood will be vulnerable to many dark things then!”

“Well,” Bofur sighed just as baby Bella whimpered in her basket, “I was thinkin’ on that and…I was hoping ye would allow one of yer sparrows to go and see if Beorn wouldn’t mind loaning me Yulock. He’s silly thing…but I know I’d be safe in his company.”

It was hard for Bofur, seeing the sadness in Radagast’s eyes, and using the first chance she had she rose and hurried over to the baby just as she began to cry.

“Taking a baby out into the wild?’ Radagast asked softly as he turned his staff in his hands, “Doesn’t she become sickly easily?”

“She had the sniffles,” Bofur explained as she came and re-sat herself, “and you gave her the medicine she needed to heal her…I know ye wouldn’t deny us any medicines ye think she would need on our travels.”

Radagast sighed, a bird that balanced on the rafters above him flew down and perched upon his shoulder, chirping as though it attempted to soothe the wizard’s heartache.  
“What if he rejects you?” Radagast asked, “Don’t you think-just perhaps-that it would be better to leave Belladonna here…and then send for her later when you know Baggins will take you in?”

“Radagast,” Bofur sighed as she patted the simpering baby’s bottom gently, “This is hard fer me too! You’ve let me stay here throughout the duration of my pregnancy, ye put up with me moods and all, and what’s more important is ye have been so kind and attentive to Belladonna.

But she’s got the right to at least meet ‘er Daddy and the same goes for Bilbo! I…miss him and I still love him…it will never change. I have to go. You can visit, Bilbo would welcome ye, and if that’s not good enough we will come visit!” 

Radagast sighed just as Belladonna lifted her head, spied the wizard, and she smiled and gurgled at the sight of him. 

“What about piglet?” Radagast inquired, happily accepting the infant into his lap, “He’s very much dedicated to you and Bella…sleeps with her nightly!”

As Bofur set up preparing for supper, listening as Radagast hummed a little tune to her child, she looked over her shoulder after a moment and said:

“Perhaps He should stay here. To keep ye company and all…it wouldn’t be kind to take ‘im from his family after all!”

“Piglet is apart of your family,” Radagast offered as he allowed Bella to explore his bushy beard, “and he loves the baby, as I’ve said, won’t you let him go with?”

As she began to chop some celery stalks, Bofur paused and turned to observer the gracious old man, and she replied with a soft smile:

“So long as ye promise to visit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes...the little hedgehog featured in this story is actually named: "Piglet."


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know this is kind of rushed by I still hope you all enjoy it :-)

“Your move, Bilbo, or are you still thinking?”

Bilbo snorted, his cheek resting on his fist, and he stared at the chess board as he offered a sigh.

“You’re cheating,” He accused, “I don’t know how, Gandalf, but I just know you-are-cheating!"

“Me?” The wizard asked, his bony fingers poking into his own chest, “I would never!”

“Oh I’m sure you wouldn’t!” Snapped Bilbo, picking up a piece at last and making his move, “You’d never do anything sneaky now, would you?”

“Not when I’m playing a game with a friend!” Gandalf said with a tug of his beard, “Though…I do believe you’ve just handed me the win with that silly move of yours just now!”

With that, Gandalf moved his final piece, and gave a satisfied laugh when he’d defeated Bilbo in another round of Sunday chess.

“Cheater,” Bilbo grumbled as he rose, “I’ve never had such hard luck at chess!”

“Perhaps your mind is elsewhere,” Gandalf advised as he began to put the game away, “It has been for quite some time!”

“What?” Bilbo asked as he pulled the front door open, “My mind? I’ll have you know that I’ve had my mind squarely on my work!”

Gandalf had made to answer when, and he startled as he heard him, Bilbo shrieked and slammed the front door so hard that the whole of Bag End seemed to quake!

“GANDALF!” Bilbo screeched, “There’s a Warg! A huge Warg headed our way!”

“A warg?” Gandalf demanded as he grasped his staff and hurried to where Bilbo was, “But that’s impossible! Why on Earth would one come here?”

“Why ask me!” Bilbo asked in a shrill whisper, now peaking out of the window, “Just get out there make it vanish!”

Gandalf, to Bilbo’s horror, looked out of the same window and a small chuckle escaped his lips.

“That’s no warg,” Gandalf sighed, “But an old friend!”

Bilbo groaned and rolled his eyes; “Really, Gandalf, if you’ve so many friends I wish-somehow-they’d send word first before they just came and-and scared the shit out of me! I’m not young any more!”

“Oh it’s no friend of mine!” Gandalf corrected, “For if you looker closer my dear friend…the visitor has come with only the idea of visiting you in mind!”

“What do you mean it just wants…oh…oh dear!”

Without another word, as Gandalf watched with a smile, Bilbo swung the door open and bounded outside.  
*****************************************************************************************************************************  
“Really…I’m sure Yulock is sorry He just…he just gets a bit excite ye know? He never meets a stranger!”

Bilbo, emerging from the bathroom in only his robe, and drying his hair offered a dry chuckle as he replied: “Obviously…damn near swallowed me when He went to give me a customary lick!”

Bofur, little Belldonna balanced on her hip, couldn’t help but smile as she realized the hobbit hadn’t changed much at all.

Tossing the towel over his shoulder, his hands on his hips, Bilbo stared curiously at the baby.

As if still trying to absorb all that had been revealed to him earlier that afternoon.

Yulock was now prancing around outside, keeping many hobbit children and adults entertained, while Gandalf had gone off on a solitary walk. Knowing full well that the dwarf and hobbit had much to discuss.

“I'd like to hold her again,” Bilbo confessed, and Bofur nodded, “How old is she again?”

“Almost…She’s almost seven months old,” Bofur explained as she handed Bilbo their daughter, “She just barely learning to crawl.”

A sense of wonderment overcame Bofur, as she watched Bilbo hold Belladonna flawlessly and allowed her to explore his own pointed ear.

Bofur expected the worst to happen; That Bilbo would fly into a rage and accuse Bofur of keeping him from his first born child.

Instead, when she'd dismounted Yulock, Baby Belladonna wrapped in a sarong across her chest, Bilbo had instantly embraced her and kissed her.

When his eyes beheld the child, his face became unreadable for a moment, just before a soft smile came upon the hobbit's lips.

"Well," Bilbo had sighed when the baby smiled at him, "Let's get you both inside...I'm sure your tired from your travels!"

“I’m guessing She doesn’t meet a stranger either, hm?” Bilbo asked then with a smile as Belladonna attempted to stick her tiny fingers into his mouth, “When I was an infant…well, my mother told me any ways, I was painfully shy when it came to other’s.” 

“Her first months were with Radagast,” Bofur explained as she followed Bilbo into the den, “I think that’s influenced ‘er a bit.”

“Probably,” Bilbo said with a sigh as He sat himself in his chair with Baby Bella in his lap, “Has she spoken yet?”

“Oh no!” Bofur laughed, “Um…She’s still a bit young…but when she jibber-jabbers it’s quite funny!”

“I can’t wait to hear that,” Bilbo mused as stroked Bella’s chubby cheek with a single finger, “She and I have a lot of catching up to do!”

Bofur frowned, scratched at her shaved chin, and cleared her throat as she offered:

“I’m so sorry Bilbo…I know I could have…I should have come sooner b-but just know that I didn’t was because~”

“Oh no,” Bilbo sighed with a gentle smile, “I’m not-I don’t blame you at all actually. I never have!”

Bofur’s eyes widened, She felt her heart pounding, and she asked in a husky whisper: “How…How can ye not…hate me in some way? I let ye believe…I-I hid myself away and-and because o’ it ye missed out on the first months of yer own baby’s life!”

Bilbo took Bella’s tiny fist and pressed it to his lips and, after a moment of blissful silence, the halfling explained:

“It was like a tornado…There was something intoxicating about you and I knew then that-that I did love you…I’d never felt so strongly for any one person. In truth…I didn’t think I’d ever know such a feeling.

When you left, after Beorn had told us he believed you to be pregnant, I wasn’t angry or negative in any way. I also feared the child was Thorin’s…I feared what it would do to you and, worst of all, I feared I’d never you see again.

You see, all that matter to me, was just being with you again. Had Belladonna actually been Thorin’s, even still, I would want you both with me. That is all that ever mattered to me and now that you are here…I think everything will be alright now. So long as you can also forgive me.”

Bofur gawked, stared slack-jawed at the hobbit, and asked: “Why would ye look fer forgiveness from me of all dwarves?”

Belladonna cooed and pulled at Bilbo’s robe for a moment, and when Her father had repositioned the infant, he confessed:

“I always felt that I didn’t do enough…that I didn’t let you know that no matter what it was that made you run…I’d still be there to help you through it. I left Beorn’s and returned here to the Shire just hoping you’d reappear one day…I feel like I abandoned you when you needed me most. Obviously.”

Bofur wiped away her tears and came to kneel beside Bilbo.

Resting her cheek against his knee the dwarf breathed: “You didn’t…I think it was my desire fer ye that kept me goin’ fer so long…Mahal truly must be great to have blessed Me life by bringing you into it!”

With his free hand, Bilbo stroked Bofur’s dark hair, and after a moment he confessed: “I think I could say just the same. Though…I’m not pleased at all with piglet!”

Bofur snorted and slapped Bilbo’s other knee as she quipped: “He’s Belladonna’s pet not me own! Poor thing would be lost without ‘er! He’s really not that bad! Wait and see!”

Another silence past, Bofur watching as Bilbo held his drowsy child against his breast, and finally she asked:

“Will…I know ye said I could have yer bed for now but…will ye not stay with me tonight?”

“What about Baby Bella?” Bilbo asked, “Won’t she be sleeping with you?”

“She can sleep between us,” Bofur advised, “Besides…I think she like being close to you.”

Bilbo chuckled as he looked down and realized the baby had fallen asleep against his chest.

“Very well,” He conceded, “I’d hate to disappoint her after all!”

“Ye best go on and lay ‘er down,” Bofur explained quietly as she rose to her feet, “I’ll go and turn down the bed and then~”

Bilbo caught Bofur’s hand as she started to go, his eyes studying her closely, and then he said: 

“You know…you were quiet handsome with your goatee and moustache. But now that you’ve done away with them…You really are quite Dwarven beauty!”

Bofur snorted and pulled her hand free and bounded off without saying anything.

Though, secretly, she thought to herself how happy her mother would be, seeing her, starting a life with her own ‘one.’


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conclusion

The day after Belladonna’s first birthday had been greatly anticipated by both her parents.

Not because both Bilbo and Bofur were done with the endless gifts and guests, not because they’d finally managed to scrub Bag End completely clean, and definitely not because they’d finally finished furnishing Bella’s new bedroom with all of her birthday gifts!

It was, of course, because they were both utterly exhausted and had been given very little private time together in the prior days.

On this particular day, Bilbo and Bofur lay quietly in bed, clasping to one another and both unwillingly to break such a wonderful moment.

“I’m so glad that Bombur and Sela sent her new clothes and it was so very sweet of Bifur to send those toys,” Bilbo confessed as he twirled a lock of Bofur’s hair through his fingers, “Though…I rather think they frightened some of the children!”

Bofur hummed, nuzzled against Bilbo’s bare chest, and mused softly: “They’ll grow to love them over time…at least I hope so because tha’s what the little ones did back in Ered Luin!”

They shared a little chuckle and a tight embrace before they heard a distinct giggle from somewhere outside of their bedroom.

“The Queen has risen!” Bilbo observed as he inclined his head and listened for a moment, “Sounds like she’s on the rocking horse!”

“I suppose breakfast is the next step,” Bofur sighed as she propped herself up onto her elbow, “Shall I prepare while you go and get the little rascal?”

“I’ll get Bella,” Bilbo moaned after stretching, “Piglet, the rascal, can just avoid me!”

Bofur snickered as Bilbo rose, pulled his housecoat on, and bounded out of their bedroom to collect Belladonna.

Taking a blissful moment to herself, listening as the father greeted and began to play with his daughter, Bofur smiled to herself.

It had been worth it, she secretly confessed, shaving off her beard and moustache to ease into Hobbiton society.

Here, Bofur knew was where she and Bella belonged; She still was amazed at how well Bilbo had adapted for both of their sakes, thinking little of him self, and taking up the role he was blessed with on such short notice.

‘Well Ma,’ Bofur thought as she stretched and rose from the bed, ‘I hope where ever ye are…ye are proud of me!’  
****************************************************************************************************************************  
“Careful…almost there…don’t be so hasty…there! Ye made it! Good job lass!”

“I helped!” Belladonna giggled as she’d finally made it into the kitchen where Bilbo took the stack of plates from her hands, nearly toppling her over when the extra weight was gone, and placing them in a basin of warm and soapy water.

“Yes and you did very well!” Bilbo declared as Bofur stood behind their daughter wiping her hands on her apron, “Now why don’t you let Mama take you and get you cleaned up so that we can all go out for a walk, hm?”

With a bright smile Belladonna dashed off and Bofur hurried after her but not before, casting Bilbo a smirk as she did.

“Good,” Bilbo whispered as He set himself to the task before him, “she doesn’t suspect a thing!”  
******************************************************************************************************************************  
“If She’s meant to have one, she would have already sprouted some! Whiskers, I mean, I dunno maybe it’s because of her halfling blood…maybe she’ll just get some on ‘er feet…which she obviously inherited from you!”

Bilbo snorted, his arm looped with Bofur’s, as they stood watching their child waddling around and picking various wild flowers just a few feet ahead of them.

“She looks-eh-very hobbit-y,” Bilbo confessed, “Though her nose is obviously from you…and she is a bit more hairier than most hobbits her age…do you think she’ll be bullied?”

“Like most children, aye,” Bofur confessed with a sigh, “But She’ll be alright…we’ll help her through!”

Bilbo nodded with a hum and added softly: “just think…she’ll be able to help her little brother or sister as well when they start to grow up!”

Bofur looked at Bilbo then, a look of subtle shock upon her features, and she asked with a disbelieving smile: “You…Ye want more children?”

“Of course!” Bilbo answered solidly, “I was an only child and, honestly, I was very lonely much of the time! But first there’s something you and I must do of course!”

“Oh I know,” Bofur said with a wicked grin, “Babes just don’t drop out of the sky after all!”

“Oh not that!” Bilbo chided the dwarf as he pulled his arm free, “Well…yes, we’ll have to do that, but I was talking about this!”

Bofur’s eyes widened when Bilbo brought the box into view and opened it, she stepped back with a gasp, and a moment of nervous silence passed between them.

“Me?” Bofur gasped with tears in her eyes, “You…Oh, Bilbo! Ye want me to marry you?”

Bilbo, blushing as he did, fell to one knee and held the open box up to Bofur so she could observe the lovely ring.

“Yes,” He answered at last, “if you will have me that is.”

“O’course…Yes!” Bofur laughed as she wiped at her eyes, “Yes, I will marry you, now get up Bilbo!”

The hobbit obeyed and quickly took the ring from its box and slid it upon Bofur trembling finger before he kissed her for a long moment.

“I…” Bofur started with a sniffle, “I don’t understand!”

“What do you mean?” Bilbo asked as He pulled Bofur into his arms, “I love you and You love me…it’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?”

“Of course,” Bofur agreed, “I just…Never…I-I’ve never met any one…I put ye through so very much and…not once, not ever, have you ever been bitter towards me!”

“I’d walk through the fires of Mordor for you,” Bilbo said with deep certainty in his voice, “Because from the moment I met you…my heart has always been willing to do what it must!”

Belladonna, having seen her parents embracing, had come over then and grasped Bilbo’s thigh, almost as if giving her own blessing, and the hobbit and dwarf laughed then.

“We’ll ‘ave to invite me family,” Bofur said as she wiped new tears from her eyes, “There’s no way we can take them all in at Bag End!”

“That’s why I say let’s not rush it,” Bilbo advised, as He broke their embrace to pick up Belladonna.

“Many dwarves are going to come so we have a lot of planning to do and I would like to keep it a secret for as long as possible. I want to see the look on the Sackville-Bagginses faces when they unexpectedly arrive any ways!”

After another fit of laughter, another loving kiss, the three turned and, hand in hand, journeyed back to Bag End.

**Author's Note:**

> Trying this fic out....not sure if I'll continue it though...gonna see what the fan reaction is first :-).


End file.
